Star Wars 1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the _Star Wars _franchise and am not making any profit from this.

_When last we saw our heroes, they had successfully escaped from the evil Prince Xizor, head of Black Sun, and were returning to the Alliance, still intent on rescuing Han from Jabba's clutches. However, as things are rarely easy, they are still dealing with the aftermath of their adventures and there are still too many questions that have yet to be answered…._

_Return of the Jedi_

A small Imperial shuttle moved smoothly from the bay of the Super Star Destroyer, heading towards the skeletal-looking structure of the half-completed space station hovering in space in front of it.

At any other time, the pilot might have taken the time to be impressed by the sheer size of the massive station, but currently his attention was preoccupied by something even more ominous than the Death Star.

With a hand that tried not to shake too much, he activated the comlink. "Command station, this is ST 321. Code Clearance Blue. We're starting our approach. Deactivate the security shield."

There was a hiss of static and then a voice came back. "The security deflector shield will be deactivated when we have confirmation of your code transmission. Stand by."

The pilot exchanged a worried glance with his co-pilot and fought not to glance over his shoulder at the occupant of the passenger compartment. He never took well to delays…

But the hissing respiration that filled the shuttle remained even and shortly the com clicked again and the controller's voice came back.

"You are clear to proceed."

"We're starting our approach." The pilot replied, trying to hide the obvious relief in his voice. Shortly, they'd be on the station and then his passenger would be someone else's problem. He might feel sorry for them under other circumstances, but he was too grateful that it wasn't his own neck on the line. Rumor was the Emperor himself had ordered this little visit and that its purpose was too chastise those responsible for the Death Star's progress.

Even though he was only the shuttle pilot, that was closer than he'd ever wanted to be to the instrument of the Emperor's displeasure.

In the passenger compartment of the shuttle, Darth Vader was aware of the fear and nervousness of the pilot, but he ignored it; his thoughts on other things. He resented being sent on this little excursion. He had far more important concerns to focus on than this foolish exercise in terrorized coercion.

As far as he was concerned, the Death Star was merely an overblown display of the Emperor's vanity. He'd argued against the first planet killing station, and again against the second, which he saw as even more futile. The Rebellion had already destroyed one, what was going to prevent them from doing the same with the second?

He shouldn't have to waste his time chastising Jerjerrod for not doing his job. The man should simply be eliminated and then replaced with someone more competent, leaving Vader to far more important tasks.

Such as locating his son.

His son…

The word reverberated in his mind with far more impact than was normally attached to such an innocuous word.

He'd thought the boy lost along with his mother; had long ago forced himself to eliminate any thoughts of the child or Padme. It simply hurt too much to think of them, and Darkness was not supposed to hurt.

But against all the odds of the galaxy, his son had been returned to him, alive.

Of course, in true karmic irony, the boy had been raised to hate and fear his father by Kenobi.

Anger surged through Vader at the thought of his former master. More than for what had been done to himself, Vader resented Obi-Wan for stealing his son from him. _He_ should have been the one to see his son born, _he_ should have been the one to introduce Luke to the Force. He should never have had to see a look of fear and loathing on his son's face as he gazed at his father. But thanks to his former _friend_, that was all that existed between them.

_Damn, Obi-Wan!_

The Dark Side swirled around him in response to his thoughts. And yet, as always, underlying the anger and hatred the thought of Obi-Wan brought, there was a small tendril of sadness that remembered the way things had once been, that remembered how Obi-Wan had cared for him and tutored him, had laughed with him and fought with him…how they had been friends. He could never quite eradicate that feeling, despite all of his efforts. It was the tiny part of him that he could still label as Anakin Skywalker, with all his ignorant naiveté and painful hope. The part that he had been trying to rid himself of for years, because with it still there, he could never entirely embrace the Dark Side wholeheartedly, and that left him vulnerable.

Unfortunately, that part seemed to have grown slightly larger since he had discovered the name of the pilot who had destroyed the first Death Star. It was emerging more and more often lately.

It was what had kept him from killing Luke on Bespin, when the boy had blatantly defied him.

It was also what had caused him to reveal a little too much of his emotions to Aurora Kenobi when she had contacted him regarding the contract on Luke's life.

Still, that had worked out well in the end. A small smiled tugged at his lips when he thought of the sheer _satisfaction_ he'd felt at giving the order to destroy Xizor's skyhook.

He dwelled on the memory for a moment. Not only had he rid himself of a potential rival and general pain in his ass, but in doing so, he'd been able to save his son's life. He wondered if Luke had thought of him in that moment.

A slight tremor shook the shuttle as it passed through the magnetic containment field that held atmosphere in the docking bay. Moments later, the landing gear lowered and the ship set down on the cold black deck.

Vader sighed internally. It was time to deal with these fools. He'd do his job and play his part, terrorizing Jerjerrod back into efficiency, and then he could concentrate on his true priority – locating his son and figuring out how to lure him in.

Because willing or not, it was time for Luke to return to his true place – at his father's side.

Aurora lifted her bottle and set it carefully back on the table, the ring of condensation it left overlapping the previous rings on the table to form a series of concentric circles. Idly, she contemplated them, rings upon rings formed in the sandy dust blurring the table top. There was something profound in that, if she cared to think about it.

"Having fun?" A smooth voice asked over her shoulder.

A few weeks ago she might have jumped, or at least reached for her blaster, startled. But not now. Now she'd been well aware of Lando's approach before he'd even gotten near.

"Not really." She answered him as he slid into the booth across from her. "Tatooine bars kind of lose their glamour after the first, oh, I don't know, ten seconds?"

"Ten seconds is longer than I would have given." Lando replied dryly. He gave a quick head tilt. "Found our mark."

Aurora casually leaned back in her seat, letting her eyes sweep in the direction Lando had indicated.

"The Weequay in the cloak."

She contemplated him. "A Weequay, huh?"

"One of Jabba's personal guards." A slightly worried look crossed Lando's face. "Does the Force affect Weequay's?"

"Guess we're going to find out."

It hadn't taken much effort. A little conversation, some outrageous bragging on Lando's part, a little flirting on Aurora's, and a judicious application of the Force. Turns out Weequay's were susceptible to mind pushes after all. And Corellian whiskey.

Lando chuckled under his breath, the sound barely audible over the noise of the other patrons in the bar.

Still, Aurora heard him and turned her head, questioning.

"Just contemplating the military applications of Corellian whiskey."

"Too many to count." She replied, tipping her head back and draining the rest of the bottle.

Lando raised one eyebrow at the action. "In a hurry to get back to our room?"

"In a hurry to get out of these clothes."

He leered at her deliberately. "Now that's a damn shame."

"Lando."

He chuckled at the exasperated warning in her tone. "Better get used to it. You're going to get a lot worse than that in the coming days."

"Don't remind me."

"Course, I'm sure that none of the reactions you'll get will be quite as rewarding as the one you got from Luke." He continued cheerfully, waiting for the reaction.

"Lando." This time there was no exasperation to veil the tone; it was a warning plain and simple.

Lando dropped it, but he couldn't quite stop the smile that spread across his face as he remembered the look on Luke's face when he'd entered the small house to find Aurora trying on the outfit Lando had procured for her in expectation of getting hired at Jabba's.

Lando could have sworn the temperature in the already warm room had risen ten degrees as the two Jedis had stood there, staring at each other; color rising in Aurora's cheeks as blue eyes had slowly scanned tight black leather from head to toe and back again, lingering on the smooth expanses of creamy skin visible where the leather had been cut away.

It had only been Leia's dry voice coming from behind Luke that had broken the spell between the two of them.

"Can you even walk in that?"

"I hope so." Aurora said. Her voice was steady, but her color was still high and Lando noticed that she couldn't quite meet Luke's eyes. She'd taken a few quick steps away, putting the length of the room between the two of them.

Lando waved one hand languidly from the couch where he was sitting. "You'd better try bending and stretching. Make sure that you _can_ move comfortably. The last thing we want is one of our hidden aces being hampered by her clothes."

"You picked this stupid outfit." She reminded him irritably, but she'd complied nonetheless, crouching smoothly and then straightening and stretching her arms over her head.

Lando noticed that Luke, still standing motionless near the door, was slowly clenching his fists tighter, and that he'd had to visibly swallow.

Not that Lando blamed him one bit. Watching black leather tighten and stretch over slender curves, his smile had grown wider. "Yes, yes I did." He congratulated himself.

Aurora had glanced over at him, her eyes narrowing. "How much do you want to bet that I can still hurt someone very, very badly while wearing this?"

"I think I'll take your word for that." Lando replied hurriedly, straightening from his slouch, just in case he needed to move quickly.

Leia perched on one of the chairs, contemplating the other woman. "Where are you planning on hiding your lightsaber in that?"

Lando had opened his mouth, a reply on the tip of his tongue, but the Force thrown mug hitting the wall next to him had shut it quickly enough.

"Well, what do you think, Luke?" Leia asked, turning towards him. "We've had one male reaction. What about yours? Do you think it will work?"

Luke had to swallow twice before he could get his voice to come out of his suddenly dry throat. "Oh, it works. It definitely works."

Remembering now, Lando had to turn his head away from his companion to hide his grin, both at the memory of Luke's fervent response, and at how fast the younger man had gotten out of the house and how long he'd stayed away; finally returning shortly after the suns had set, sweaty and breathing hard.

Obviously, he'd tried a little hard exercise to take his mind off of… things.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the _Star Wars _franchise and am not making any profit from this.

Leia sat in the slight shadow thrown by the house, her back resting against the gritty wall, as she watched Luke.

Unlike her, he was standing in the full light of the setting suns, the bright actinic light beating down on his head and rising in waves from the sand around him. It gleamed against his sweat covered skin and glinted brightly off the silver lightsaber in his hand; almost brighter than the green-white blade.

Not that Luke even appeared to notice the baking heat. He'd been practicing for a while now; not the lightning fast battles that he had Aurora routinely engaged in, but a deliberately slow, controlled movement of the lightsaber, going over the same moves again and again, perfecting them.

He'd yanked off his shirt some time ago, his only concession to the heat, and his bare torso was slick with sweat, his hair darkened with it.

Watching him now, Leia couldn't understand how he could stand it. Just watching him was making her feel overheated and exhausted, and she was in the relative coolness of the shadows.

But he seemed driven, the deadly blade weaving a spell of its own as it swooped and twisted around him, always perfectly controlled.

Suddenly, the smooth rhythm halted, the blade humming expectantly as Luke's head came up, his eyes distant.

"What is it?" Leia asked, pushing to her feet.

Luke ignored her, his eyes closing in apparent concentration.

Leia glanced around, worried, searching for an unknown threat in the desolate landscape.

Finally, Luke opened his eyes. "They did it."

"Who did?" Leia asked, confused.

"Aurora and Lando. They were successful."

The Princess eyed him oddly. "Can you talk to Aurora like that?"

Luke frowned slightly, twisting the hilt of his lightsaber in his hands. "No, not exactly. I can feel her emotions, sense her feelings. Sometimes, I can _almost_ tell what she's thinking. If she's not shielding, that is."

Leia considered this. "That's…handy." She decided, _and oddly intimate_, though she wouldn't for the galaxy have revealed that thought to Luke. He and Aurora had been acting even more oddly around each other lately, since they'd returned to Tatooine. They seemed more friendly than they had been before the whole fiasco with Xizor; more of a return to the way their relationship had been on Hoth, joking and laughing, and yet the whole thing rang slightly false. Because for all of their casual camaraderie, they seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time avoiding each other; one often leaving the house shortly after the other returned.

She shook her head, dispelling the thought. Now was not the time to dwell on the complexities of the relationship between her companions; because if Luke was right - and for all that she trusted him completely, she'd still wait for the coded transmission from Lando to confirm it – then the next stage of their plan was moving into place and she needed to be ready. Because this time, she wouldn't just be waiting around for everyone else to do the work.

_RoJ_

Luke stayed outside for a while longer after Leia had gone inside. She was cautiously optimistic about his announcement, going to share it with Chewie, but he knew that she'd wait until Lando checked in on the coded comlink before she really allowed herself to get excited that their plan was working. Unlike Han, Leia believed wholeheartedly in the power of the Force…as long as she had concrete, tangible evidence to back it up.

Luke allowed himself a slight smile at the curious mixture of idealism and solid pragmatism that was the former princess of Alderaan.

The smile faded slowly as he once again touched on the distant ripple in the Force to the southeast that was Aurora's presence. It glowed brightly, even at this distance. If he concentrated, he could get a vague idea of her emotions. Slightly irritated, but nothing major. Mostly just bored, with a slight edge of impatience; ready for this part of the plan to be over with.

He maintained that light contact, unwilling to let go entirely.

Aurora and Lando had gone off to Mos Eisley on their own several days ago, their plan to get hired as part of the motley assortment of guards, dancers, and hanger-on's that generally could be found around the Hutt's palace, while he, Leia, Chewie and the droids waited at Ben's house for their success or failure.

It had been easier than he'd thought to let them go. Maybe that talk that he and Aurora had had on the _Falcon_ really had helped, because he found himself relatively complacent about the idea of her deliberately placing herself in danger without him there to back her up. Maybe it was because it was only a bunch of ragtag criminals, of whom she was perfectly capable of handling herself around, or maybe it was because he knew in a few days that he'd be following behind them, but he wasn't the nervous wreck he thought he'd be.

_Maybe it was maturity_, he thought wryly.

Through the link, he felt Aurora's sudden realization of his presence, and the touch of her concern. He sent back reassurance, amazed again at how easy this was, and felt her exasperated indulgence at what she perceived as his overprotectiveness. But it wasn't, he realized. He'd really just wanted to say…goodnight.

He did so now, and if his thought was more of a mental caress than he'd intended, neither of them was willing to recognize it as such.

A/N: Sorry it's so short. I really should have included this part in the first section; it's where it belonged, but I was trying to stick to my normal four page long sections. Unfortunately, the next part can't really be broken into pieces anywhere other than the end, which makes it much too long. So, you get this brief section now. But I promise I'll update the third section in a few days to make up for the briefness of this one.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the _Star Wars _franchise and am not making any profit from this.

If Mos Eisley was the armpit of the galaxy, as it was generally recognized, then Jabba's was something anatomically even less pleasant. The so-called palace was a pit, nothing more. Maybe once, when it had been the home of the Bo'Marr monks, it had been a more attractive, if still austere, edifice, but now it was simply ruinous, a stone corpse left too long to decay. At once both desiccated and slimy; metal was rusted and pitted by the endless winds, stone was crumbled, and gritty sand covered every possible surface, including its inhabitants.

Aurora was just grateful for the dim lighting; at least she couldn't see whatever it was that she was smelling.

Of course, that dim lighting had its disadvantages too. It made it harder to see the dangers that awaited you in the shadows of the audience chamber or the dark labyrinth of rooms in the lower levels. But it also made it harder to _be _seen.

She stood in some of those shadows now, leaning against the cold stone wall, eyes scanning the court in front of her. She'd learned shortly after arriving here that it was far, far safer to keep a wall at her back.

Hopefully, it wouldn't be much longer before they could get out of here. She'd been in some nasty places in her time, but this one took the ryshcate.

Her eyes automatically went once more to the alcove across the room from her and what it contained. The light above the slab of carbonite hanging on the wall was one of the few sources of light in the room, naturally drawing the eye to it and thus brazenly displaying what she'd heard Jabba refer to more than once as his favorite trophy.

She'd managed to keep the expression on her face neutral at hearing this, but it had been hard, especially when staring directly at the expression of agony on Han's face that had been so clearly caught in black stone.

She only hoped now that he was completely unconscious, unaware of anything while he lay trapped in the unnatural hibernation.

Lando stepped up next to her, his eyes too scanning the room around them. After only a few days here, the action had become as natural as breathing. You watched for danger at all times, and hoped that it wasn't watching you back.

"What are you doing up here?" He asked.

Normally, she'd be sequestered downstairs in the Dancer's Pit, where she was marginally safer from the unwanted attentions of the motley court that surrounded the crime boss. Not that the dancers and slaves were by any means friendly or necessarily safe. But they were all so concerned with looking out for number one that they tended to ignore each other, thus providing a relatively safe haven.

But the Force had been nudging Aurora and she'd ventured up into the stinking dimness of Jabba's main audience chamber.

"Something's happening." She said now, her voice low.

Lando eyes sharpened behind the boar's tooth mask he wore. Without a word, he moved away from her. If something was happening, better to have them on opposite sides of the room, more of a chance of catching someone in the crossfire.

Within moments of Lando taking up a post to the right of the door, Jabba's majordomo, Bib Fortuna, appeared in the archway followed by two very familiar droids.

Somehow, despite his molded features being incapable of movement, Threepio appeared absolutely terrified.

The Twi'lek glided over to Jabba's side, his long robes leaving tracks in the dusty sand that covered the floor.

A sibilant whispering arose from the gathered beings, always curious when newcomers appeared.

Fortuna bent down, whispering urgently in the Hutt's ear, who awoke from his customary doze with a start.

Threepio nudged his counterpart nervously, obviously eager to get away from the palace. "The message, Artoo, the message."

Artoo squawked indignantly, but obediently swiveled his dome, and a light cut through the gloom of the chamber, displaying a hologram in front of Jabba.

Aurora studied the hologram of Luke dispassionately. They'd all worked long and hard on the hologram, trying to come up with a careful balance between the flattery necessary to catch the gangster's interest and not appearing too obviously sycophantic.

She'd thought they'd achieved what they were going for, as Luke appeared calm and collected, dressed in the all black outfit that Dash had selected for him back on Coruscant.

His voice, when he spoke, was smooth and steady, giving the necessary appearance that he was completely in control of the situation.

"Greetings, Exalted One. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight and friend to Captain Solo. I know that you are powerful, mighty Jabba, and that your anger with Solo must be equally powerful. I seek an audience with Your Greatness to bargain for Solo's life."

There was a nervous tittering through the assembled group, but Jabba himself didn't react obviously, other than a widening of his large golden eyes.

Luke continued, "With your wisdom, I'm sure that we can work out an arrangement which will be mutually beneficial and enable us to avoid any unpleasant confrontation. As a token of my goodwill, I present to you a gift: these two droids."

Aurora couldn't quite control her wince. They'd purposely concealed this part of the plan from Threepio, knowing how he'd react.

And in fact, the golden droid gave a start. "What? What did he say?"

"…Both are hardworking and will serve you well."

"This can't be right," Threepio exclaimed in distress. "Artoo, you're playing the wrong message."

With a slight inclination of his head, Luke's image disappeared.

Now Jabba laughed, his great belly shaking. Bib Fortuna bent over him and muttered in a grotesque mix of Huttese and Basic, "Bargain rather than fight? He is no Jedi."

Jabba laughed again and waved one stubby arm, intoning dramatically in Huttese. "There will be no bargain."

Threepio moaned. "We're doomed."

"I will not give up my favorite decoration. I like Captain Solo where he is." The Hutt continued.

Threepio and Artoo both turned to look where the slimy alien had indicated.

"Artoo, look!" Threepio gasped. "Captain Solo. And he's still frozen in carbonite."

Behind their back, Fortuna gestured to several guards, and they approached the two droids, roughly grabbing Threepio's arm and jabbing at Artoo with a pike, forcing them to move towards the corridor.

The protocol droid protested vociferously, but it was no use. The guards forced them out of the audience chamber, accompanied by the cackles and jibes of the watching audience.

Aurora forced a smile onto her face, conscious of anyone who might be watching. She felt terrible about deceiving Threepio like this, but the droid was simply too bad of an actor to be included in the plan. They'd have to seriously apologize to him afterward, once they all got out of here. Hopefully, Artoo, who was in on everything, could keep him from freaking out too much.

Meanwhile, Jabba, delighted by his thwarting of the Jedi's plan and the obvious distress of the droids, was in a good mood. Wide awake now, he called for entertainment.

His band, as always ready at a moment's notice, broke into a wild jizz melody, led by the Ortolan, Max Rebo, on keyboard.

The court swept into motion, following Jabba's lead. Raucous laughter rose above the wailing melody as the beings indulged themselves in their various amusements. At Fortuna's signal, several dancers took to the floor, their movements deliberately sensual and designed to engage Jabba's interest.

Aurora shuddered. She simply could not figure out Jabba's continued fascination with scantily clad humanoid women. Considering the discrepancy in size and, er, physical makeup, what did he think he was going to do with them? Not that she really wanted to know all that much.

Which is why she remained tucked in her sheltered and dim corner, subtlety deflecting any interest that came her way with the Force. It wasn't even very hard. As her father had once explained to Luke, the weak-minded were easily swayed by a gentle Force push, and Jabba's court wasn't exactly known for its intellectual stimulation.

The party was heating up now as a multitude of alcoholic libations and spice worked their way through the varied systems of those present. The band was really wailing away, Sy Snoodles stepping to the front for a vocal number.

Jabba's latest favorite, Oola, a lovely green-skinned Twilek, had taken to the floor now at Fortuna's orders. Jabba was watching her with an unholy lust gleaming in his bulbous eyes.

Aurora felt her skin crawl. She wouldn't be in Oola's sandals for a million credits. Behind Jabba's shoulder she saw Threepio totter out. He'd obviously been recruited to serve as the Hutt's protocol droid, since the vile gangster had lost his temper and disintegrated the previous one a few days ago.

Threepio still looked terrified, turning his head from side to side as he tried to take in everything around him.

Poor droid. They really were going to owe him after this.

Aurora's eyes swept the jostling crowd in the room. It shouldn't be too long now. They'd arranged for Leia and Chewie to show up shortly after the droids arrived. Lando was supposed to signal them if anything went wrong, but so far it hadn't, which had to be a bloody miracle, considering their usual operations.

Her gaze landed briefly on a familiar set of armor across the room. Fett. He was standing in the corner, away from the rest of the crowd, not interacting with them. His head turned occasionally as he watched, surveying the court and looking for threats. Aurora kept one eye on him. If anyone could screw this up for them, it would be Fett. He wasn't the most notorious bounty hunter in the galaxy for nothing. She lifted one hand, as if fiddling with her hair, but really she was making sure that her lightsaber was still concealed, just for reassurance. It had taken Leia the better part of a day to figure out a way to arrange her hair in order to wrap around the lightsaber that was strapped to the back of her head, thus hiding it entirely. Thin, black leather straps that wrapped around her head, forehead and throat kept the deactivated hilt held snuggly in place. It wasn't the most comfortable arrangement; the damn thing was heavy and was making her neck ache keeping her head up, but she considered that a minor price to pay for the reassurance of having the weapon.

Her attention was drawn back to the dance floor as a sudden spike of excitement rippled through the crowd. Jabba was gesturing for Oola to come to him.

But apparently even Oola had limits to what she'd do for money, and she shook her head, backing away from the obese alien.

Jabba jabbed angrily at a spot on the dais next to him. "Da Eitha!"

Oola shook her head again, terrified, and screamed at him. "Na Chuba negatorie Na! Na! Natoota-"

Even more furious, Jabba tugged violently on the chain connecting him with the Twilek dancer, but she fought him, yanking back on the chain and digging her heels into the sandy floor.

Losing his temper, Jabba yelled, "Boscka!" and slammed one fist down on a button next to him. The floor under Oola opened up suddenly and sent the dancer plummeting into a stinking, dark pit.

The crowd cheered, maddened by blood lust, and gathered around an open grating to watch the show.

Aurora made one aborted movement towards the grating, and then stopped. There was nothing she could do by herself to help the doomed female, and attempting to interfere would only get herself and the others killed as well.

From the pit there came a chilling growl followed by Oola's terrified scream.

Aurora looked away, not wanting to hear Oola's inevitable grisly fate. She didn't know what exactly it was down there in the pit, but Oola wasn't the first being to be disposed of in this fashion when Jabba was displeased.

On the dais, Threepio too was looking away, shuddering in distaste and fear.

Suddenly, a loud blaster shot sounded through the room, silencing the loud cheering, and turning heads in the direction of the archway. Several members of the court hurried towards it, one guard out in front, only to stop in their tracks when the guard was suddenly hurled back into the room to crumple against the wall.

An uneasy whispering swept through the audience chamber.

From the darkened arch, a short alien dressed in a tan cloak and a grotesque breather mask appeared, followed by a tall Wookiee, his hands bound before him. The crowd backed away from the two, giving them room to enter the chamber and stand before the dais.

Bib Fortuna hurried over to stand next to Jabba, whispering in his master's ear.

Jabba regarded the short alien with interest.

It spoke in Ubese, voice oddly distorted by the mask. "I have come for the bounty on this Wookiee."

"Oh, no!" Threepio gasped. "Chewbacca!"

Jabba chuckled, his pleasure almost obscene. "At last we have the mighty Chewbacca." He laughed again and gestured with one stubby hand for Threepio to come forward.

Threepio did so, stumbling and stuttering nervously. "Oh, uh, yes, uh, I am here, Your Worshipfulness. Uh…yes!"

Jabba spoke, his Huttese rapid now as Threepio anxiously translated. "Oh. The illustrious Jabba bids you welcome and will gladly pay you the reward of twenty-five thousand."

The alien interrupted. "I want fifty thousand. No less."

Jabba flew into a rage, shouting and swinging his fist into Threepio, knocking the golden droid off the dais with a mechanical screech. Jabba ranted in Huttese while Threepio struggled back onto the dais, his face and chest plate smeared with green slime from Jabba's hand.

"Uh, oh…but what, what did I say?" Frightened, he turned to face the alien. "Uh, the mighty Jabba asks why he must pay fifty thousand."

The alien bounty hunter held up his free hand. In it was gripped a small silver ball.

Threepio glanced from it to Jabba and back again, terrified to utter his next words, but Jabba was obviously getting impatient.

"Because he's holding a thermal detonator!" Even the droid's protocol programming couldn't stop his voice was rising into a terrified wail at the end of his sentence.

A panicked rumbling rose from the watching crowd, and nearly as one being, they all backed away from the short bounty hunter and his captive; as if that small distance would protect them from the blast.

Across the room, Boba Fett whipped his blaster off his back and aimed it at the bounty hunter. Aurora had no doubt that he was fully prepared to blast the little alien into pieces, but the steady beeping coming from the detonator let everyone know that it was armed.

On the dais, Jabba broke into deep chuckles. "This bounty hunter is my kind of scum. Fearless and inventive."

The crowd relaxed slightly, following their master's lead. Fett lowered his weapon, waiting to see how the situation developed.

Jabba continued, his voice still radiating amusement and Threepio quickly translated, trying to defuse the situation. "Jabba offers the sum of thirty-five. And I suggest you take it." He added.

The bounty hunter held still for a moment, considering the offer, then slowly and deliberately moved his thumb, releasing the switch and silencing the beeping detonator.

"Zeebuss."

"He agrees!" Threepio cheered.

The crowd burst into cheers and raucous laughter, obviously relieved. The band struck up again as the bounty hunter exchanged a few words with the guards that approached him and released Chewbacca to them. The Wookiee howled angrily as he was led out of the room.

Threepio approached the masked alien to finalize the details of the fund transfer, Bib Fortuna stopping next to them briefly to offer his congratulations on a game well played.

Across the room, Fett continued to watch the other bounty hunter, inclining his head in a gesture of acknowledgement to his colleague.

The other returned the nod.

Aurora met Lando's eyes as he too watched the scene with satisfaction. Everything was in place for the next part of the plan. If Leia was able to rescue Han, then they'd all bug out of here faster than a spice smuggler with a star destroyer on its tail. If not, then hopefully Jabba would think that this was the extent of the rescue operation and he wouldn't be prepared for Luke's arrival.

Hopefully….


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the _Star Wars _franchise and am not making any profit from this.

In the stinking stillness of Jabba's audience chamber, a lone figure crept carefully along the wall. Leia's heart was pounding so loudly she was positive the entire palace would hear it.

Earlier, facing down Jabba and his entire court, she hadn't felt so nervous. She'd been playing the role of the brash bounty hunter, Boushh, and somehow that had imbued her with confidence. Or perhaps it was because she hadn't been alone. Chewie had been standing at her side and both Aurora and Lando had been watching from the edges of the room. If anything had gone wrong, she'd known they would all back her up. But now, in the dark hours before dawn, she was alone.

Aurora had argued long and hard, but both Leia and Lando had been adamant that she stay away from the main audience chamber while Leia tried to rescue Han. That way, if anything went wrong, her cover wouldn't be blown. If she was successful, then the next morning, when Han's disappearance was noted, neither of them would be suspected since they'd both have witnesses to their presence somewhere else: Aurora down in the Dancer's Pit with the other dancers and Lando on duty in the detention area. Still, it would have been nice to know that there was someone a little closer.

Although, Leia had to admit that a small part of her, the still suspicious part, had wondered if Aurora had wanted to be on hand in order to ensure that the plan didn't work. But she'd dismissed the idea: Aurora had never seemed to have a problem with Han, and he wasn't really all that essential to the Alliance….just to her. Oh, so essential.

Deliberately brushing away her emotions, Leia focused on her mission and stepped carefully over the prone body of one of the revelers. Considering the way he was snoring, she was extremely grateful that the mask she wore filtered out any odors. She'd really hate to smell whatever fumes he was exhaling.

She moved through the columns carefully, her heart nearly jumping out of her chest when she banged her head on an incongruous set of wind chimes and sent them tinkling; the sound strangely alien in the stifling silence of the room.

She hesitated, waiting to see if the noise had woken anyone up, but other than a slight snorting sound from the man she had just passed, there was no noise.

Trying to control her increasingly rapid breathing, the princess continued, her goal the slight alcove on the far side of the room, where a dim light illuminated the carbonite slab hanging there.

Finally, she reached it and pressed back into the corner of the case, casting a careful glance behind her. Still nothing, but something was making her skin crawl.

Trying to combine care with haste, she reached up and pressed the button to cut out the repulsor that held the slab off the ground, deliberately keeping her eyes away from Han's face. She had caught one swift glance at the agony written there earlier, and didn't want to see it again.

The button went dim and the carbonite dropped to the floor with a dull thud.

It seemed louder than it should have, and Leia winced, once again glancing over her shoulder at the darkened room.

Still nothing.

Inside her spiked gloves, her hands were damp with nerves, and she could feel a thin line of sweat trail down her back under the concealing garments.

Carefully she reached up and twisted the dial to begin the unfreezing process, and then slid the acceleration switch up.

The glowing green square registering the process began to blink rapidly and a low hum began to emit from the slab.

No longer worrying about being caught, she stepped back, all of her attention now able to be centered on the man whose features were slowly being revealed as the hard shell covering them seemed to melt away. His hands, previously raised in protest, fell limply to his sides and his head, free of the carbonite, lolled to the side. Before Leia could react, his body fell slackly to the ground with a dull thud, apparently lifeless.

Frantically, she dropped to her knees next to him, fumbling to turn his dead weight over and make sure he was breathing. After the longest moment of her life, Han's eyes opened and he coughed raggedly. Leia supported him as best she could, reveling in the feeling of being able to touch him again.

"Just relax for a moment. You're free of the carbonite."

Awkwardly, Han flailed a hand, reaching for his own face, moaning.

"Shh." Leia hushed him. "You have hibernation sickness."

"I can't see." The uncharacteristic panic in Han's voice had her heart nearly breaking.

"Your eyesight will return in time." She soothed him.

As he adjusted to the sudden return of consciousness, the Corellian appeared to be settling a little. He took several deep breaths and when he spoke again, his voice was steadier. "Where am I?"

"Jabba's palace."

A slight look of fear crossed Han's face, and he moved his hand cautiously, reaching towards the strange voice above him, recoiling when he touched the grotesque mask.

"Who are you?"

Unable to stand Han's fear any longer, even knowing that she shouldn't, Leia tugged off the headgear, letting her tumbled braid fall down. "Someone who loves you." She answered him in her own voice.

Recognizing the familiar voice, Han relaxed. "Leia!"

She bent her head, her mouth finding the soft lips that she'd feared she'd never touch again. But realization of the very real danger they were still in, had her keeping the kiss short. She got one arm around Han's shoulders. "I've got to get you out of here."

With a struggle, they managed to get Han back on his feet, though he was swaying badly and beginning to shake with the effects of the hibernation sickness.

Leia had just got him turned in the direction of the archway, when a sudden deep, obscene chuckle sounded through the silence of the audience chamber, and she froze; dread seeping through her.

Han turned his face towards the sound, blind eyes trying to comprehend. "What's that?" He paused and then looked equal parts stricken and resigned. "I know that laugh."

A dusty curtain on the other side of the chamber pulled back, revealing Jabba sprawled on his dais, Bib Fortuna and other lackeys gathered around him, all laughing.

Leia looked around frantically, trying to find a way out, but the supposedly drunken beings sprawled around the room were sitting up and others were appearing in the darkened alcoves. They were surrounded. Even spotting Lando making his way into the room didn't relieve the stomach cramping fear that was beginning to consume her. They weren't going to get out of this.

Next to her, Han was trying to salvage the situation. "Hey, Jabba. Look, Jabba, I was just on my way to pay you back, but I got a little sidetracked. It's not my fault."

Jabba laughed again before speaking in Huttese. "It's too late for that, Solo. You may have been a good smuggler, but now you're Bantha fodder."

"Look – " Han tried again, but Jabba ignored him.

"Take him away!"

Several guards grabbed Han's arms and led him away.

"Jabba…I'll pay you triple!" Han yelled. "You're throwing away a fortune here. Don't be a fool!"

Lando moved quickly, coming up next to Leia and grabbing her arm roughly, trying to get her away from Jabba before this mess deteriorated further. But he was too late.

"Bring her to me." The gangster intoned.

Another guard grabbed Leia's other arm, and without any other choice, Lando helped him pull the struggling young woman forward until she stood on the dais, directly in front of the slimy alien.

"We have powerful friends. You're going to regret this." Leia stated, trying to get control of the situation.

"Oh, I'm sure." Jabba said, amused. He licked his lips obscenely, and Leia tried to get away from his slimy blob of a tongue, but Fortuna's hand, placed firmly in the small of her back, kept her in place. All she could do was turn her head away.

"Ugh." Her stomach rolled.

From behind Jabba, Threepio turned his own head away. "Oh, I can't bear to watch."

Jabba gestured, and the guards pulled Leia away, still struggling. They dragged her from the audience chamber.

"Where are we going?" Leia demanded. She'd meant the question for Lando, but it was the other guard who answered.

"To the Dancer's Pit. Jabba prefers his slaves to be dressed in something a little…less."

"Slave?" Leia yelled indignantly, trying to sound less scared than she was. She didn't care for the sound of that at all, or the resigned look of fear on Lando's face either. This was not how the plan was supposed to go. Looks like it was all up to Luke now. So much for her help….

_RoJ_

Han stumbled along between the two guards holding his arms. He was only vaguely aware that they were going down a narrow set of stairs, the temperature dropping slightly as they went below ground; all of his attention was back in the audience chamber, with Leia. It was all he could do not to throw himself desperately at the guards in an attempt to get free and back to her. The thought of Leia, _his Leia_, alone and facing the sick perversions of the Hutt and his court was making his hands shake with fear. Only the knowledge that, as weak and blind as he was, he had no chance of success, kept him from flinging himself on his guards.

They reached the bottom of the stairs and turned left, moving along a dark, stinking corridor, floored in some kind of dark stone. Pitted and rusted metal doors with bars lined the hall. When they reached the fourth such door, one guard unlocked and opened it, then the other threw Han through it. It closed behind him with a clang, the sound echoing forlornly through the cell.

Han stood helplessly near the door, where he had landed. He was afraid to move, uncertain what obstacles might lie in front of him, concealed by his blindness. He couldn't ever remember feeling more helpless than he did right now.

A low growl rumbled from the other side of the cell.

Han instinctively pressed back against the door, before he abruptly realized that there was something very familiar about that growl.

"Chewie? Chewie, is that you?"

There was a loud yowl and the sound of movement, then strong arms closed around him, lifting him right off the ground, while Chewie continued to yell his joy.

"Ah!" Han gasped, feeling his ribs creak. "Chew – Chewie!"

Chewie barked out a few more enthusiastic expressions of glee.

"Wait." Han tried again. "I can't see, pal. What's going on?"

Slightly calmer, the Wookiee gave Han a slightly expurgated update of recent events.

"Luke? Luke's crazy." Han stated. "He can't even take care of himself, much less rescue anybody." He knew that statement was slightly unfair; after all the kid had proved himself to be a deadly pilot and gifted commander since forming Rogue Squadron, but still…this was Luke they were talking about. It had only been a few years ago that the kid was a wet-behind-the-ears farmboy who had never been further away than Mos Eisley. Now he was supposed to be in charge of this whole escape fiasco? No wonder Han and Chewie were currently occupying a cell.

Chewie continued.

"A …Jedi Knight?" the pilot repeated in disbelief. "I – I'm out of it for a little while, everybody gets delusions of grandeur."

The Wookie growled insistently, but Han was past listening, just shaking his head in disbelief and looking pitiful. The Corellian never had liked plans that he hadn't been a part of concocting. With a low whuff of fond irritation, Chewie pulled his partner to his chest and stroked his head soothingly.

Han patted the hairy arm holding him. "I'm all right, pal. I'm all right."

He wasn't sure who he was reassuring though; himself or his best friend.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the _Star Wars _franchise and am not making any profit from this.

Aurora had felt the stirring in the Force all morning, so she wasn't too surprised when out of the corner of her eye, she saw Bib Fortuna suddenly hustle out of the main chamber as if his robes were on fire, followed by several guards. Lando too was watching them and he cast a quick glance in her direction, a smile touching his lips at her slight nod.

Luke was here.

She tried to tell herself that the quick thrill in her stomach was in anticipation of the possible upcoming fight, but the way her blood heated when the darkly cowled figure followed the majordomo into the room gave the lie to the thought. Despite all of her reasoning and justifying, she couldn't stop her pulse from jumping just at the sight of Luke, especially not after so many days away from him.

An anticipatory murmur ran through the crowd as the dark figure moved to stand in front of the dais, while Fortuna moved up on it, bending to whisper in the sleeping Hutt's ear.

Luke kept his face impassive while he quickly surveyed the room. Leia, barely dressed in some skimpy version of a dancing costume, was lying against the Hutt's obese belly. A golden collar around her neck was attached to a chain which appeared to be linked to Jabba. If looks were anything to go by, she was ready to kill the Hutt herself for the humiliation of her present position. Lando was near the wall, his eyes watchful behind the concealing mask he wore. Threepio, standing behind the slug, looked overjoyed. "At last, Master Luke's come to rescue me." He crowed.

And Aurora…she was somewhere behind him. He could feel her presence, glowing in the Force, but he didn't turn to look for her. He didn't need to. He knew that, whatever happened, she'd have his back. It was an incredible feeling. But now was hardly the time or place to dwell on it.

He didn't see Han or Chewie, but he knew they'd be somewhere in the palace, probably in the cells below. He returned his full attention to the giant sluglike alien in front of him.

"Master." Fortuna whispered to his slumbering employer.

Jabba woke with a start.

"Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight." Fortuna continued.

Cranky and irritable from being awoken, Jabba scowled. "I told you not to admit him."

Luke lifted his hand slightly, letting the Force flow from him. "I must be allowed to speak." The Twilek, accustomed to obeying Jabba's every command, had already proved himself to be susceptible to Force persuasion at the entrance to the palace, and now was no different.

Fortuna repeated the words, looking slightly dazed. "He must be allowed to speak."

Jabba roared, raising his hand and smacking the Twilek. "You weak-minded fool! He's using an old Jedi mind trick."

Luke kept his eyes on the golden ones of the Hutt, willing him to succumb to the Force-infused persuasion. "You will bring Captain Solo and the Wookiee to me."

Jabba snorted. "Your mind powers will not work on me, boy."

Keeping his face calm – after all, they'd known there was a good chance that it wouldn't work; Jabba, while vile, wasn't exactly weak-minded – Luke continued speaking, his voice steady and confident. "Nevertheless, I'm taking Captain Solo and his friends. You can either profit by this…or be destroyed. It's your choice. But I warn you not to underestimate my powers."

That was laying it on a little thick and he could almost hear Aurora's snort in his head, but he was playing to an audience, one who shifted nervously behind him. The Jedi were long gone from the galaxy, but their legend still lingered, and this motley group of criminals and sycophants had reason to fear their power.

Jabba laughed at his statement, his bulbous eyes gleaming with malice.

Threepio raised his hand slightly, "Master Luke, you're standing on –"

But Jabba cut him off. "There will be no bargain, young Jedi. I shall enjoy watching you die."

Before his last word had even settled into the air, Luke's hand lifted lightning fast, and a blaster pistol jumped from a guard's holster and flew into his hand. Instantly chaos erupted, with everyone trying to get away from the suddenly armed intruder. The fleeing audience hampered the guards that were trying to reach him. Bewildered, the guard whose gun Luke had taken, reached his hand down, trying to comprehend what had happened. He spotted it in the Jedi's hand and grabbed for it, trying to overpower the slight young man, but the human was stronger than he looked.

Unfortunately, the panicked crowd seriously hindered Aurora's attempts to go to Luke's aid. She shoved forward, but the momentum was against her, and she was slammed backwards, catching an elbow to the cheek that had her seeing stars. She was on the verge of pulling out her lightsaber when she heard a blaster shot and then Jabba's furious snarl of "Bascka!" and heard the familiar grinding sound of the trap door.

The floor fell away abruptly, and both Luke and his opponent dropped like stones into the pit below.

On the dais, Leia yelled, "No!" and tried to get to the pit, but Lando's hand on her arm and slight headshake held her in place.

She looked across the room desperately, trying to spot Aurora, but the vibrant red hair was no where in sight.

The crowd cheered wildly and gathered around the edges of the grating, eager to watch the carnage.

Finally, Leia saw Aurora appear across the pit from her. Her hair was tousled and her clothing looked the worse for wear. A red mark on her cheek indicated that she'd gotten caught in the near stampede. Her face was grim, but she didn't look panicked, so Leia forced herself to calm down slightly. Maybe they still had things under control.

Then she heard the primal roar of something large and hungry come from the pit where Luke had fallen and felt her heart try to jump into her throat. Or maybe not.

_RoJ_

Heedless of any damage she might be doing to herself or others, Aurora shoved her way to the edge of the pit, garnering bruises as she went, but finally she had a clear view of

Luke; he and the guard had both fallen down some kind of chute, tumbling head over heels to land in a large caged enclosure. The floor was dirty sand, spotted here and there with bones and other ominous stains.

Luke had immediately rolled gracefully to his feet and shed his cloak, looking around and taking in his surroundings.

On the far side of the enclosure, a heavy grate jerked up slowly, the clanking and grinding of its chains indicating too little time spent on maintenance, but it still opened.

The guard, a large Gamorrean, took one look at the opening door and screamed hysterically, trying to climb back up the chute, clawing desperately at the sides.

The watching crowed roared with manic laughter and jeered.

The grate clanged fully open, and slowly, a large beast moved out of the dark shadows. It was easily five times Luke's height, even crouched over as it was, with a large head full of hand-size fangs and vicious, razor-sharp claws on its paws. Its skin glistened greasily in the dim light.

"Oh, no! The Rancor!" Aurora heard Threepio moan.

A Rancor. So that's what had been hidden in the pit.

She'd heard of Rancors before. They were vicious and their appetites voracious. Although not particularly intelligent or quick, they were tough, able to withstand a great deal of damage before succumbing.

Below, Luke looked slightly intimidated, but hardly panicked, as he backed slowly away from the fanged horror approaching.

"Ooo-kay. I didn't see that coming." He muttered to himself while turning his head from side to side, looking for some means of escape.

Meanwhile, the guard's frantic screams for help had attracted the monster's attention and it reached out one clawed hand, grasping the squealing Gamorrean. With one movement, the Rancor shoved the guard into his mouth, crunching down.

The hideous sound of crunching had Aurora's stomach turning in horror and she saw Leia turn pale and clamp one hand over her mouth.

But the rest of the crowd cheered and laughed, obviously delighted with the entertainment.

Finished with his snack, the Rancor turned to find the other occupant of the pit. If it hadn't been for the fact that Luke's sense in the Force was still calm, Aurora would have leaped down there herself to help him. But he didn't appear to need it. He easily dodged the Rancor's clumsy swipe at him, grabbing the bone of a previous victim that lay in the sand and then turning back to face the large predator. The Rancor grabbed at him again, and Luke didn't dodge this time, instead letting it catch him around the torso. He winced at the painful hold, but kept a tight grip on the bone he held, and when the monster brought him up to his drooling mouth, the young Jedi wedged the stained bone into the Rancor's mouth as hard as he could.

The monster bellowed in pain and dropped Luke to the sandy floor. Taking advantage of the distraction, Luke searched the room again, looking for an exit. Spotting the holding cell from which the animal had originally emerged, an idea came to him. But before he could move, the Rancor raised his huge head and bit down. The bone in his mouth shattered like dry wood, sending splinters of bone flying like shrapnel from a frag grenade.

Luke stared in dismay. "Okay, that's not good."

Angered now, the grotesque beast looked around, trying to find his earlier prey. Discretion being the better part of valor, Luke ran, dropping and rolling into a crevice in the wall he had observed earlier.

Spotting him, the Rancor moved across the pit and reached for him.

The Jedi grabbed a nearby rock and slammed it down on the grasping hand as hard as he could.

The beast roared in pain again and seizing his chance, Luke ran past him, heading for the darkened holding cell. He spotted an access panel and slammed his hand down on it, aware that once again the Rancor was looking for him.

Unfortunately, when the panel opened, it revealed a heavy grate between him and freedom. "Now that's just not fair." Frustrated, he shook it as two guards on the other side stared at him in disbelief.

No one who had been dropped into the Rancor pit previously had ever lasted this long. Not that the little runt was going to last much longer. There was no where else to go.

Jeering, they poked at him with their spears, moving him away from the grating.

Luke backed away from the spears, feeling a little more desperate now. The Rancor was coming towards him again, and in the small holding cell, he didn't have much room to maneuver. "Okay, this _really_ isn't good."

The watching crowd, sensing the coming end of the battle, were roaring, maddened with blood lust.

Luke crouched down against the wall, trying to make himself a smaller target. Suddenly, a small light on the wall next to the opening caught his eye and a sudden, desperate idea came to him. As the Rancor moved into the opening of the holding cell, his tiny eyes searching the dimness, Luke grabbed a nearby skull off the floor, and calling on the Force, sent it winging through the air towards the tiny light, which belonged to a control box halfway up the wall.

The skull hit the panel as if it had had a homing beacon on it, and the light blinked out. The heavy door that separated the holding cell from the rest of the enclosure, released, hurtled down with a sort of ponderous inevitability. The bottom edge of it slammed into the top of the Rancor's skull like an ax cleaving a duros melon, sending the giant beast to the floor. It whimpered once, and then was still.

Luke heaved out a gasp of relief, and felt the sudden heady thrill of Aurora's own joyful relief sweep over him.

A sudden fearful hush filled the audience chamber above at the unexpected turn of events and all eyes turned to Jabba.

The Hutt remained motionless for a moment, obviously taking in the unexpected conclusion, and then roared furiously.

"Bring me Solo and the Wookiee. They will all suffer for this outrage."

Several guards hustled away more than eager to get themselves away from their master's anger. It wouldn't be the first time that Jabba had taken his frustrations out on some hapless victim.

Below, the Rancor's keepers frantically opened the access hatch. One furiously grabbed Luke by the front of his tunic, dragging him away from the wall, only to be shoved out of the way by his companion, who rushed to the side of his dead charge, weeping.

Luke might have felt bad under other circumstances, but in this case, well, it was a little much to ask him to mourn the death of a creature who was actively trying to _eat_ him. Even Jedi compassion had its limits.

Other guards poured into the holding cell, grabbing the Jedi and dragging him out, eager to appease Jabba's anger by offering up the intruder who had so mightily offended him.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the _Star Wars _franchise and am not making any profit from this.

They hauled Luke none too gently up the stairs and back into the audience chamber, the crowd surging around them, just as Han and Chewie were dragged in from the opposite direction.

"Han!" The young Jedi called, spotting his friend. And man, it was good to see the Corellian!

"Luke!" Han called back, his head turning as he tried to look around with his useless eyes.

Their shoulders bumped together as they were shoved roughly through the jeering crowd.

"Are you all right?" Luke asked, concerned.

"Fine. Together again, huh?" Han joked.

"Wouldn't miss it." Luke responded, matching his light tone.

"How are we doing?" Han asked with his usual air of insouciance.

"The same as always." Luke deadpanned.

"That bad, huh. Where's Leia?"

"I'm here." She called from the dais, grabbing at the collar around her neck that was digging into her throat with Jabba's tight grip.

"Where's -?" Han started to ask, but Luke cut him off, afraid he'd reveal their hidden assistance.

"Chewie's right behind you."

Understanding, Han kept quiet. Whatever the plan was, and he really hoped there actually _was _a plan instead of their usual attempts to just wing it, he didn't want to reveal it by asking too many questions.

The crowd was settling down now, as Threepio stepped to the edge of the dais, translating Jabba's angry words.

"Oh, dear." The droid gasped. "His High Exaltedness, the great Jabba the Hutt, has decreed that you are to be exterminated immediately."

"Good," Han said irrepressibly, "I hate long waits."

"You will therefore be taken to the Dune Sea and cast into the pit of Carkoon, the nesting place of the all-powerful Sarlac." Threepio continued, ignoring Han with long practice.

"Doesn't sound too bad." The Corellian muttered to Luke.

The droid's prissy voice persisted. "In his belly, you will find a new definition of pain and suffering, as you are slowly digested over a thousand years."

"On second thought, let's pass on that, huh?"

Chewie barked his agreement.

Luke spared a smile for the pilot's inimitable style, but his eyes stayed on the Hutt's. "You should have bargained, Jabba. That's the last mistake you'll ever make." Unmistakable satisfaction colored his tone. He would have let Jabba go if the gangster had agreed to release Han, but as he would have hated to leave this festering scum to continue his depredations, he couldn't pretend that he wasn't pleased with the way things had turned out.

Jabba laughed at his confidence, and Leia exchanged a concerned look with Lando, but Luke was smiling as he was led away.

Just before he was shoved through the arch, he turned his head, unerringly meeting a pair of dark green eyes across the room.

Aurora raised one eyebrow questioningly, and Luke winked playfully. Rancors aside, everything was going according to plan.

She was already moving before his back disappeared from view.

_RoJ_

The hot, dry wind whipped around them, sending fine particles of sand scraping against exposed skin. From what he could tell, they'd been dragged onto some kind of open air vehicle, a sand skiff, Chewie had said, and we're now heading out across the desert towards that pit Goldenrod had mentioned.

Han didn't know what exactly Luke had planned, but he hoped it was good. He really didn't like the idea of becoming some _thing's_ after dinner snack.

He squinted his eyes slightly, muttering over the droning of the engine. "I think my eyes are getting better. Instead of a big dark blur, I see a big light blur."

"There's nothing to see." Luke replied absently, staring out across the endless expanses of golden dunes. "I used to live here, you know."

"You're going to die here, you know." Han told him. "Convenient."

Luke eyed him with amusement. "Just stick close to Chewie and Lando. I've taken care of everything."

"Oh…great." Han muttered with false enthusiasm. And why did that just not bode well? Chewie had filled him in a little in the cell, letting him know something of what had happened after he'd been frozen, such as Lando helping them now, but he hadn't wanted to reveal too much, in case anyone was listening. Which left Han figuratively, and literally, in the dark now.

He had no idea how Luke was planning on getting them out of this, considering that they were cuffed and standing on a small skiff surrounded by guards, with more guards and guns watching them from another skiff and from Jabba's huge sail barge that was following them, on their way to be dumped into some kind of pit with a huge…thing…living in it, planning on eating them. He also had no idea where Aurora was, but she was presumably around somewhere, since Luke had cut him off when he'd started to mention her name.

He really hated when he wasn't in on the plan. It made him itchy…as did the idea that Luke was probably relying heavily on that Force hoodoo as part of this plan, which made him even itchier.

He sighed. He really had a bad feeling about this….

_RoJ_

Aurora huffed out a breath, trying to blow a loose hair out of her face without loosing her grip on the metal strut she was clinging to. As soon as Luke, Han, and Chewie had been led away, she'd headed for the vehicle hanger at Jabba's palace. She'd done some cautious exploring earlier, as well as some discrete questioning of the guards, and knew that Jabba would be taking his personal sail barge, the _Khetanna_, to watch the execution. So, all she'd needed to do was get into the sail barge, undetected, and they'd be good to go. It had taken a little more maneuvering than she'd expected, but she'd managed to climb up the framework supporting the mostly decorative sails, and wedge herself just under the edge, where the front and back sails overlapped. She was invisible from below and protected from the heat of the suns above, but it wasn't the most comfortable position to be in, and after several hours, her legs were cramping like nobody's business. Only her contact with the Force let her remain here for this long.

A few careful contortions had allowed her to view the skiffs that were accompanying the barge, like remoras on a shark. She could just make out Luke in the middle of the second skiff, his dark clothes standing out against the bright horizon, Han and Chewie next to him. Presumably Lando was also somewhere around too. He was supposed to be in the same skiff with the others, but Jabba's will was capricious at best. He'd flatly refused to allow any of the dancers to accompany the party to the Pit of Carkoon, which is why she hadn't even bothered to ask him, instead going to the trouble of stowing away up here. Presumably, Leia had been forced to accompany Jabba as his latest amusement, but if not, they'd simply go back to Jabba's and get her after they finished here. She snorted to herself. As if that was going to be so simple…

A change in the vibration of the engines alerted Aurora that they were slowing down probably approaching the Sarlacc's pit. Curiously, she peered over the edge of the sail, trying to spot the beast.

But all she could see was a large depression in the sand. She wasn't close enough to see down into it, but she could certainly smell it. She pressed her nose into her shoulder for a moment, trying to block out the sickeningly sweet smell of decay that smeared the air. A great many things had obviously died here.

Below her, activity picked up as several guards emerged from the middle deck to line the sides, either for protection or, more likely, to get a better view of the proceedings. She could hear excited chattering from below as the partiers prepared for the main event.

Aurora pulled herself up a little higher. She needed to be able to see what happened so that she didn't miss the signal.

The sail barge had moved to the side of the large depression, with the escort skiff taking up a position at a forty-five degree angle to it, while the skiff with the prisoners on it moved out over the center of the pit.

Now that they were closer, Aurora could see down into the large crater and she really wished she couldn't. It was huge, probably at least twenty meters across and equally deep. The steep sides of the pit were lined with row after row of sharp teeth, and even as she watched, a few tentacles appeared from the stinking hole in the bottom, apparently in response to the vibrations of the vehicles.

She shuddered in response.

On the middle deck, Jabba's entourage was beginning to line the rails, laughing and joking as they jostled for better positions.

The guards on the prisoner's skiff ran out a gangplank and shoved Luke towards it.

Sunlight flashed off the golden form of Threepio as he stepped forward, and at one wave of Jabba's stubby arm, the motley group quieted.

"Victims of the almighty Sarlacc: His Excellency hopes that you will die honorably. But, should any of you wish to beg for mercy, the great Jabba the Hutt will now listen to your pleas." The droid translated.

On the skiff, Han stepped forward slightly, his face turned in the direction of the sail barge. "Threepio, you tell that slimy piece of worm-ridden filth, he'll get no such pleasure from us." He stated arrogantly, and then looked towards his friends. "Right?"

Chewie's growled agreement was clearly audible.

Luke stood straight, his face calm. "Jabba. This is your last chance: free us or die."

Below her, the crowd roared with laughter and mockery.

Jabba simply smiled at the ignorance of this insignificant human. "Move him into position."

The skiff guards shoved at Luke, who moved coolly onto the plank; apparently not caring that the half a meter wide board was all that stood between him and a particularly hideous death.

A glint of sunlight on metal caught Aurora's eye, and she glanced down. Artoo had unobtrusively come up the ramp to the top deck and was now standing at the starboard railing, waiting.

A vicious smile starting to tug at her lips, Aurora's hand moved to her hair, deliberately removing the pins and clasps that held it in place. The heavy locks loosened, revealing a strange harness held to the back of her head by a series of straps around her forehead and neck which had been entirely concealed by her hair. It took only a moment of fumbling before she was holding the silver hilt of her lightsaber, the smooth lines of the grip reassuringly familiar in her hand after so long without it.

Standing at the edge of the gangplank now, Luke looked up towards Artoo and gave a jaunty little salute, a smile breaking over his face.

Aurora saw a compartment in the top of the little droid's dome open in preparation.

"Put him in." Jabba intoned.

The guard behind Luke grinned gleefully and shoved him in the back with the tip of his pike.

Luke stepped off the end of the plank….and suddenly spun around in mid-air, his fingers grasping the end of the plank he had just been standing on.

It bent under his weight and then snapped back up, catapulting him into the air. He tucked gracefully into a flip and landed back on the skiff, one hand already reaching up into the air…and the lightsaber hilt that Artoo had ejected dropped neatly into his hand.

All hell broke loose.

Luke had ignited his lightsaber and with sweeping strokes was hewing his way through the guards on the skiff, despite their attempts to bring their blasters to bear.

Aurora would have liked to watch the show, but she was already throwing her leg over the beam she sat on, and dropping gracefully to the deck below; cushioning her landing with the Force.

The guards lining the rails taking aim at the prisoners didn't even realize she was there until she already sliced through the first guard's arm.

Shrieks and cries rose over the blasting of the guns, and Jabba's roars of fury could be heard from below.

Aurora sheered through the mounting on one turret gun, but she wasn't in time to stop Boba Fett from firing up his jet pack and blasting off to the skiff.

_Heads up, Luke! Incoming! _She sent frantically, deflecting a blaster shot to the side.

More guards were pouring out of the ramp now, trying to get to the railings and the battle taking place on the skiffs. From the sounds of blaster fire, they were also shooting from the hatches on the side of the sail barge.

But there was nothing she could do about that from here. All she could do was try to clear the decks and hopefully keep somebody from getting in a lucky shot.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the _Star Wars _franchise and am not making any profit from this.

Below decks, everything was chaos. Jabba was roaring in fury, his minions running around panicked. Several of the guards had gotten their blasters out and were trying to get clear shots at the skiff, but they were being hampered by the panicked stampeding of the partiers.

Leia looked around for a weapon, anything she could use. Spotting a lamp that had been kicked loose by someone, she grabbed it and pounded it frantically against a nearby control panel. It erupted in a spray of sparks and the smell of burning circuitry filled the air as the lights on the sail barge suddenly went out.

The levels of fear rose drastically as the screaming reached a new pitch.

Under the cover of darkness, and guided by his continued bellows of outrage, Princess Leia Organa showed Jabba the Hutt exactly why chaining yourself to a slave was a really bad idea.

With all of her might, fueled by every ounce of fear and anger and humiliation that she felt at being forced into her role of slave, she looped the chain around Jabba's thick, slimy neck, and pulled.

She could feel the resistance as he strained forward, his weight nearly countering her strength, but she persevered; exerting her muscles to their limit, feeling her heart pound and her lungs gasp for air. _I will not be anyone's slave!_

Jabba gurgled, his stubby fingers scrabbling frantically at the chain around his throat.

Leia yanked harder, bracing her feet and legs, leaning backward as far as she could go, willing her arms to have the strength for this. _Not anyone's slave!_

Jabba's movments became more frenetic, the air rattling desperately in his throat as he tried to take a breath.

Leia put everything she had into one last pull, her teeth gritted, her vision beginning to blacken at the edges. _Not…a…slave!_

And with one last gargle, Jabba went limp, his head falling forward, tongue protruding from his mouth, as the great body stilled.

She held onto the chain for a moment longer, not willing to believe yet that the Hutt was dead. But he wasn't moving and she couldn't detect any sign of breathing.

With a huge gasp, she let out the breath she was holding, feeling her head pound with her exertions, as she slumped back against the wall behind her, panting, overwhelmed by the force of her emotions.

After a moment, she got her legs under her and stumbled forward, accompanied by the clinking of the chain that still connected her to the grotesque body of the crime boss.

No one was paying any attention to her; too caught up in their own personal hell. The noise was overwhelming. She could hear dozens of blasters firing outside now, but she ignored them as she searched around the dais for something to cut the chain with. If only someone would conveniently drop a blaster near her, then she could shoot through it.

Suddenly through the darkness, a familiar chirp was heard and Artoo Detoo appeared. He already had his electric cutting arm out and Leia held up the chain for him to shear through, grateful beyond belief to the little droid.

Once she was free, she patted his dome. "Come on, we've got to get out of here."

They paused briefly to gather up Threepio who was looking a little the worse for wear after an encounter with Jabba's little monkeylizard, Salacious Crumb, before heading for the ramp.

Leia felt her pulse leap when she heard the familiar smooth hum of a lightsaber rising over the din of battle. Either Luke or Aurora was up there and armed.

_RoJ_

Aurora was too distracted to keep an eye on what was happening on the skiffs, but she could tell when suddenly the guns weren't firing towards the smaller ships anymore. She understood why when a familiar blonde head appeared over the railing followed immediately by the rest of Luke.

He spared a glance for the black-clad figure fighting nearby as he headed for the nearest turret gun which was lining up for a shot on Han and Chewie as they attempted to rescue Lando. "You all right?"

"Fine." She called back, dispatching another guard with a neat twist of her hand. He screamed once and then collapsed. "Yourself?"

Luke had to twist slightly to block three incoming blaster bolts. "Just dandy. Where's Leia?"

There was a pause while Aurora ducked under a blaster and planted her boot in its owner's face in a high side kick. The crunching noise that accompanied it was highly satisfactory and Luke caught her fierce grin before she answered him. "She's still below. I'm working my way there."

Before either of them could move though, Leia herself appeared at the head of the ramp, accompanied by both droids.

There were only a few guards left now, the rest having either been killed or thrown overboard, but Leia wisely stayed to the side, keeping behind Aurora. Once Aurora had taken care of the two in front of her, she risked a quick glance at Luke. The last three guards were circling him, but he looked like he had it under control.

"Aurora, the deck gun." He called out.

"On it." She yelled back as she headed aft to the stern of the ship and the large gun that stood there.

Abruptly the young Jedi felt a sudden spike of pain from behind her and heard Luke swear. She spun around in time to see a guard, who had risen from some previously concealed compartment, raising his gun to take another shot at Luke, who had bent double, his arms apparently clasped to side. Without thought, she threw her lightsaber, the blue-white blade spinning like a fallen star through the air and slicing into the guard's back. He dropped without a sound.

Luke swung a large underhand blow at the last guard, and he toppled to the side. Taking a moment to wipe at the sweat on his brow, Luke looked around and realized that they had cleared the decks.

"We're good." Aurora called, seeing him looking. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He replied carelessly."Come on."

She didn't believe him for a minute, but he was moving fine, so whatever had caused that jolt of pain apparently wasn't that serious. Still, once they were safe, they'd be having a little chat.

Leia hurried over to where Luke was moving towards the starboard railing.

"Artoo, go." Aurora told the little droid as she reached the blaster cannon. It took her only a minute to adjust the gun so that the large muzzle was pointing directly down at the deck.

With a gleeful beep, Artoo herded Threepio towards a gap in the railing, and before the confused protocol droid could stutter out more than half a question, Artoo shoved him over the edge and quickly followed.

Seeing the droids safe, Luke reached for one of the ropes that had fallen loose from the sails and wrapped his hand around it, gesturing for Leia. When she reached his side, he slung his arm around her waist. "Hold on to me."

"How are we – " Seeing his intention, her eyes got wide. "No way in hell, Luke. This isn't some holovid!"

"Just like one." He told her, grinning. "Relax. I've done this before."

His eyes met those of Aurora, standing next to the deck gun, already holding onto another rope. For a moment, both of them remembered a brief kiss shared while standing on a short platform over an endless drop.

Then Leia wrapped her arms around Luke's neck, her eyes tightly closed in fear, and Aurora turned her head away, forcing the memory away.

She waited until Luke and Leia had landed safely on the skiff, before she slammed her foot down on the trigger mechanism, firing the huge barge cannon.

The blast that emerged was huge, but Aurora had already jumped, swinging towards the waiting skiff while the hot desert air sent her vibrant hair flying behind her.

She landed gracefully on the skiff, releasing the rope as behind her explosions racked the sail barge.

Luke met her eyes, unable to control the triumphant grin that spread across his face. "Much better than our last landing."

"Wasn't it, though?" she replied smugly, still feeling the giddy high of a successful battle.

You two are nuts." Leia commented.

"Let's go." Luke told Lando who was at the skiff's controls. "And don't forget the droids."

"We're on our way." Lando replied, already heading towards where Threepio's golden legs could be seen sticking out of the sand.

As the skiff shot off into the desert, the flame-engulfed sail barge formed a triumphant banner at their backs.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the _Star Wars _franchise and am not making any profit from this.

Luke conferred with Lando at the controls, ascertaining their exact position and plotting out the best course. There were a lot of hazards in the Tatooine deserts and he wanted to make sure that they avoided all of them.

Behind him, he could hear Aurora fussing over Chewie, making sure that the big Wookiee's wound wasn't serious.

Chewie growled irritably at her, but it was obvious he was enjoying the attention.

She carefully parted the thick russet fur, trying to see the blaster wound on his shoulder. "Just a graze, I think" She said peering at it. "But it must burn like blazes. I wish we had some bactagel and something to numb it."

Chewie assured her that it was fine. More of an irritation than anything.

Aurora bit her lip. "Still, we should at least cover it with something. To keep the sand out of it." She patted her hands absently over the skin-tight leather she was wearing. "Unfortunately, I don't exactly have any spare material here to tear up for you, like a good holovid heroine would."

Luke turned, grinning. "You'd make a lousy damsel in distress anyway. You'd never wait for the hero to save you; you'd just do it yourself. Here." He grabbed his lightsaber and, after igniting it, carefully cut a strip away from the bottom of his vest and handed it to her. "Sorry it's not a petticoat, Chewie."

The Wookiee urfed out a laugh.

Aurora took it, carefully winding it around Chewbacca's shoulder and over the wound. "Guess that makes you the heroine." She told Luke.

He fluttered his lashes at her and simpered, causing both Lando and Chewie to roar with laughter. Aurora simply rolled her eyes, playing her part. But privately she was wondering if Luke was really as carefree as he was acting, or if it was just that – an act, and he was finding it as awkward as she was to maintain this casual friendliness.

Han's voice from the rear of the vehicle interrupted her thoughts.

"What the hell are you wearing?" He demanded, having apparently suddenly realized just how much of Leia's skin he was able to touch.

Leia's reply was inaudible, clearly trying to explain the situation calmly and dispassionately, but from Han's angry expression, it wasn't working.

"That reminds me." Luke mused. "Some of us aren't exactly dressed for the weather, so to speak."

Han snorted. "Some of us aren't exactly dressed at all."

Apparently irritated by his possessive and overprotective attitude, Leia abandoned diplomacy and punched him in the arm. Aurora understood completely.

Luke coughed, clearly trying to hide a laugh. "All other considerations aside, Leia, you're going to fry under the suns if you don't get covered up."

"Sorry, but I didn't exactly pack a bag for this trip." The princess told him tartly.

Lando turned from the controls, a smooth grin on his face. "I would be truly honored if the lovely lady would consent to avail herself of my tunic."

Han snorted, but Leia nodded graciously. "Thank you, kind sir."

Lando shed the bulky garment, leaving him in a rather dusty and wrinkled shirt, and passed it over to the princess, who shrugged into it. It dwarfed her petite frame, but Aurora could tell she felt more comfortable immediately, both in relief from the suns and at being much more modestly clothed.

"That just leaves, you, Aurora." Luke said, catching her attention as she finished tying off the cloth over Chewie's shoulder.

"Yeah?" Han said with sudden interest. "What's Red wearing?"

"More than Leia." Aurora retorted.

"Not much more." Lando replied, grinning.

"And whose fault is that?" She reminded him.

The gambler laughed. "Hey, I willingly take full credit for that. It's not exactly a hardship for the rest of us, is it, Luke?"

Luke raised one brow. "You don't really think I'm stupid enough to answer that, do you?"

Han swore. "Damn hibernation blindness. I'm missing out on all the good stuff."

Leia punched him again.

"Here, Aurora." Luke was already undoing the fasteners on the overvest he wore and tugging it off. "You can have my shirt."

"Thanks, but doesn't that just leave you exposed to the suns?" She said, doing her best to look only mildly concerned as he dropped the vest to the floor and tugged off the black shirt he wore under it. Now that the rescue attempt had been successful and the danger had passed, she was suddenly acutely aware of Luke again. Here he was, offering the shirt off his back as he would to any friend, and all she could think of was how damn _hot_ he looked standing there shirtless.

"I'm a lot more used to it than you are." He reminded her, and held out the shirt he had just removed.

"Thanks." She took it from his hand and yanked it over her head carelessly; trying not to dwell on the fact that it was still warm from his body and that it smelled of him, that clean, fresh smell that she associated only with Luke.

Her hair, still loose after freeing her lightsaber, got tangled in the collar and she swore, fumbling at it with suddenly shaking hands.

"Here." Luke stepped over and brushed her hands away, gently freeing the vibrant mass himself.

Because Aurora had closed her eyes in an attempt to rein in her suddenly wildly careening emotions, she didn't notice the strained look on Luke's face, or the fact that his hands lingered in her hair for a moment, before he stepped back and picked up his discarded vest.

He was trying really hard to maintain a friendly distance, but suddenly he'd been presented with a viciously tactile memory of the last time that he had seen her hair loose like that. It had been spread over his bare chest as they lay in bed, and he'd been running his fingers through it.

"Thanks." Aurora told him, and was it his imagination, or did her voice sound shaky?

Their eyes met for a moment and then they both looked away.

Watching them, Chewie and Lando exchanged knowing glances.

Desperate for a distraction, Aurora suddenly remembered something from the sail barge and she forced her voice into briskness.

"Okay, Skywalker, you're next for this improvised medicenter. Where'd you get hit?"

Luke, his mind still dwelling in places it shouldn't, looked confused. "Hit?"

"Yes, hit." She repeated firmly. "Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. I know you took a blaster shot back there; I felt it."

Leia ignored the implications of that in her instant worry over Luke. "You got shot?"

The others were looking at him with concern.

"No - well, yes, but it's fine." Luke told them.

"You always say that." Aurora stated. "I think I'll just see for myself."

Luke backed away from her grasp. "Aurora, really, it's fine. It's just – I caught one in the hand."

Aurora stopped in mid-reach. "Your hand – oh. Your right hand." She said, understanding dawning.

"Yes."

"Oh." She said again, uncertainly. She was never quite sure how to discuss Luke's artificial hand with him. He seemed okay with it, but she noticed on more than one occasion that he rarely used it to touch people. "It's – it's okay, then? Everything works all right?"

"Seems to."

Behind them, Han was confused at the conversation and the suddenly uncomfortable tension he could feel in the air. "What the hell is the matter with you two? A shot in the hand is not all right!"

There was an awkward exchange of glances. They'd all forgotten that Han didn't know about Bespin.

Leia looked down. She didn't want to tell Han about Luke's hand, because she knew he'd blame himself. After all, Luke had lost it trying to save them. He wouldn't even have been in Cloud City if it hadn't been for them. There wasn't a chance that Han wasn't going to feel responsible for what had happened. She still did.

Luke was obviously just as reluctant to share the events with the former smuggler, but it had to be done. When he spoke, he purposely kept his voice light. "Actually, a shot in that hand _is_ all right, Han, because it's prosthetic."

Han scowled in disbelief. "Prosthetic? Since when?"

"Since Bespin."

There was a long silence.

"Bespin?" Han repeated, realization dawning. "What happened?"

Luke shrugged. "Vader cut it off with his lightsaber. I think I made him a little mad."

"Apparently." Han said dryly, automatically responding to Luke's tone of voice. A variety of thoughts were chasing themselves across Han's mind, but he was used to playing the sabacc cards close to the vest, and he didn't reveal any of them. The kid obviously wanted to keep this light. Later, when they were alone, he'd find out more from Leia and figure out exactly how much of this was his fault. "What exactly did you do?"

"I sort of hit him in the shoulder with my lightsaber."

"Yeah, that would do it."

Although she was listening to the exchange, Aurora kept her eyes on the passing horizon. She wondered if anyone else could tell how much effort it was taking for Luke to keep his voice light as he discussed the man who might possibly be his father. It didn't show in his face, but his hand, his artificial right hand, was opening and closing at his side in veiled agitation.

Deliberately changing the subject, she turned to Lando. "So, how much longer until we get back to my father's house?"

Lando squinted at the navigation screen. "Well, it's hard to say. This sand-blasted rattletrap isn't exactly in the best of conditions. From what I can tell, we're about here." He pointed at the screen with one finger.

Aurora studied it, trying to recall the details of the maps she had studied while sitting around the table in Ben's house.

Luke looked over her shoulder. "We're less than half-way back. At the rate this thing flies, it's going to be at least several more hours."

"Great." She moved away from him and sat down on one of the benches lining the sides. "Wake me up when we get there."

It was a good idea; they were all a little short on sleep and the harsh sunlight leached energy away until you wanted to do nothing more than stretch out and not move. Luke looked around.

Chewie, on the other bench, had leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

Leia and Han were still talking quietly together in the rear, making up for lost time. Not for all the worlds would he disturb them.

Which left exactly one place to sit- next to Aurora.

"Lando, do you want me to take over the controls so you can get some sleep?" Luke asked somewhat desperately.

"Nah, I'm good. It actually feels great to be back in control of something after the last few weeks. Thanks though."

"No problem." Luke muttered. _Damn it._

Nothing for it then. He couldn't just stand here like an idiot. He took a deep breath and sat down next to Aurora. The bench wasn't very big, so there was nothing he could do about the fact that he was pressed hip to hip with her.

She opened one eye when he sat down, but thankfully didn't say anything. Just closed her eye again and turned her face slightly.

After a few minutes, Luke relaxed slightly, feeling like he could breathe again. Who knew being just friends was going to be so hard?


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the _Star Wars _franchise and am not making any profit from this.

A/N: Sorry for the long delay. School started and I'm trying to balance teaching six different classes at three different universities in three different cities. Some days I forget where I am. It's also football season so four hours on Saturday have to be set aside to watch Michigan; it's my stress relief….although last week's game was anything but stress-free!

Anyhoo, here's the next installment; hope you enjoy. And go Blue!

Aurora wasn't certain what had woken her. One minute she had been dozing fitfully and the next she was awake, although still somewhat muzzy with sleep. It took her a moment to realize that her head was pillowed on Luke's shoulder and she sat up with haste. But before she could even begin to be properly humiliated by this, she realized that what had woken her up was a mounting feeling of dread.

She looked around for the cause, her hand automatically dropping to her lightsaber, suddenly wide awake.

Next to her, Luke was tensed, his head turned to stare behind them.

"Luke? What is it?"

"Do you feel it?"

She didn't have to ask what he meant. "Yes – at least, I feel….something. Something's wrong. But I can't tell what."

Their low voices had woken the others and they were staring at them with concern.

"What's going on, kid?" Han asked, freeing his arm from behind Leia.

Luke was still searching the horizon behind them, his eyes narrowed against the glare of the suns. "I feel danger."

Leia looked around, worried. "Are we being followed? Some of Jabba's people?"

"Or those Sand People you were telling us about?" Lando asked.

Aurora, her eyes closed as she concentrated on that sensation of danger, shook her head. "No…I don't think so. Whatever it is, it doesn't feel sentient." She opened her eyes to look at Luke. After all, it was his home turf; he was more familiar with it. But even as she turned to him, an absolute look of dread crossed his face.

He turned instantly towards the controls. "Lando, where are we?"

The gambler brought up the navigation screen again. "About here."

Luke studied the display and then looked around, scanning the landscape.

"Luke, what is it?" Leia asked softly.

"We're in big trouble."

"What's new?" Han snorted.

Chewie growled in agreement.

Aurora, picking up on Luke's anxiety, followed his glance behind them. There was something…she squinted against the suns' glare. Wait a minute….

"Luke, is that-?"

"Yes." He said grimly. "Lando, you need to turn due north. Now."

"But – " The gambler took one look at the younger man's face and shut his mouth. Now obviously wasn't the time to argue. He shifted the controls, changing their route from northeast.

"What's going on, kid?" Han asked tensely.

"You see that dark smear on the horizon?" Luke said, pointing behind them. "That's a sandstorm. And judging by the way it's growing, it's moving fast. Really fast. If we don't have some kind of shelter when it hits us, then we're dead. The winds whip the sand so fast that it'll flay the skin right off you. Or, if that doesn't kill you, you'll suffocate when your lungs fill with sand."

"Well, there's a cheery thought." Aurora said dryly.

"You know, I really hate this planet." Han commented to no one in particular.

"Right there with you, buddy." Lando replied.

"What do we do?" Leia's voice was steady, but it was taking an effort.

"There's an old ruin a little north of here. If we can reach that, we should be able to take shelter from the sandstorm." Luke told her. Leia nodded.

"If." Aurora repeated softly.

Luke met her eyes.

"How close is it going to be?" She asked, keeping her voice low so that the others couldn't hear her.

"Close."

Aurora nodded.

_RoJ_

They were all tensely watching that dark cloud grow larger. The wind seemed to have picked up, blowing ahead of the storm, and Aurora could almost swear she could hear the sands slicing past them; a herald of the terrible power approaching them.

Lando had opened up the throttle as far as he could, the engine grinding in protest, and the landscape was flying past them, but the sandskiff hadn't been that fast even when it was new, and it had certainly not been well maintained in the last few years, and the cloud kept growing.

She could feel Luke's anxiety as he watched the approaching storm. He, more than any of them, knew exactly what was going to happen if they didn't make it to the ruins. His face was grim and one hand kept toying with the hilt of his lightsaber.

Aurora wanted to reach out and grip his hand; offer some sort of comfort – after all, wasn't that what friends would do? But she found she couldn't make that simple gesture, even now, because their relationship was anything but simple.

The light around them was dimming as the wall of sand got nearer and blotted out the suns.

Luke was seriously considering trying to use the Force to somehow push the skiff faster when he saw something on the horizon.

"There! Lando, do you see it?"

"I see it." The gambler replied. He eased the throttle up another cautious notch despite the groaning of the labored engine and headed for the dark silhouette that Luke was pointing to.

Aurora gauged the distance, glancing back and forth between the distant smudge and the sandstorm. Luke hadn't been kidding; it was going to be really close.

Sand was already hissing around them when they finally reached the low sand-covered hill.

Luke leapt out of the skiff and concentrated for a moment on a small depression, almost indiscernible from the surrounding sands. Trying to direct the Force like this was hard, but he concentrated fiercely, willing the sand to move.

With a puff, the sand suddenly shot upward, as if a small explosion had gone off under it.

Aurora was already next to him, following his lead and adding her strength to his, and suddenly a geyser of sand shot into the air, revealing a small dark square under it.

"Go!" Luke shouted, having to raise his voice over the already howling wind.

The others didn't hesitate. Leia helped Han climb out of the skiff and navigate the opening while Lando aided Chewie and the droids followed.

The blowing sand was thick enough already that the skiff was barely discernable a few feet away.

"Aurora, we need to pull the skiff over; block the opening." Luke shouted.

Aurora nodded, one hand raised to shield her face from the swirling sand. "Okay."

He grabbed her hand, not willing to take a chance on losing her in the storm; sight was already severely diminished, and concentrated, suddenly remembering standing in a damp, humid swamp while the Force swirled around him.

He got a grip on the skiff, feeling it rise slightly with the Force.

Together, he and Aurora began to back toward the narrow opening in the sunken stone wall, using the Force to tug the skiff after them.

Below, in the eerie darkness of the ruins, Leia clenched her hands together, her eyes on the slit of light, willing Luke and Aurora to step through. "Where are they?" She asked tightly.

"Relax, sweetheart, they're coming." Han told her, one hand rubbing her shoulder reassuringly.

There was suddenly an odd scraping noise from outside the entrance, loud enough to be audible even over the wind, and then the opening darkened.

Before Leia could open her mouth, two dark figures came through, and then something large settled over the opening, blocking out the sight and sound of the storm. Everything went pitch black.

The only sound in the chamber was the faint hissing of blowing sand and muffled breathing.

Then Leia heard the sound of fabric moving, a slight clink of metal, and then a familiar snap-hiss.

Leia blinked her eyes against the brilliant blue-white light that was suddenly filling the room. It took her a minute to clear her vision. When she did, she saw Aurora standing there, holding her lightsaber up, while Luke prowled around the edge of the room.

Chewie growled a question, gesturing towards the darkened opening.

"We blocked it." Aurora responded. She too was looking around, taking in their surroundings.

"With what?" Lando asked.

"The skiff." Luke said absently from where he was crouched in the corner, studying something on the wall.

The others exchanged glances. The skiff, while not large, was still far too heavy a vehicle to be moved manually. Chewie, with all of his strength, might have been able to shift it a little, but not drag it several feet and lift it up and over those low walls in order to cover the opening.

Lando glanced at Leia and made a gesture with his hand, silently indicating the Force.

Leia nodded and glanced back towards where Aurora had now joined Luke, the two of them conversing quietly.

She'd missed most of the battle on the sail barge and Han hadn't been able to see anything, so he couldn't tell her what had happened, but it was painfully obvious that she was going to have to seriously reevaluate her opinion of Luke and Aurora and their abilities. This was way beyond levitating a few hydrospanners while sitting in the _Falcon._

Luke stood up. "I don't see any cracks or holes in the walls that would let in any critters, so we should be good here."

"For how long?" Leia asked, looking around hesitantly before sitting down in the sand.

Luke shrugged. "I really can't say. Could be a few hours; could be longer."

"Days?" Han asked.

The others looked at him sharply.

"It's rare for a storm to last that long." Luke assured him.

Aurora deliberately kept her eyes away from Luke. She wondered if anyone else had noticed that he'd avoided actually answering Han.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the _Star Wars _franchise and am not making any profit from this.

Not wanting to risk depleting their energy sources, Aurora had turned off her lightsaber, and they all sat now in complete darkness, listening to the howling of the wind outside.

The eerie noise was getting on his nerves and Han broke the silence.

"So, who wants to bring me up to speed on what's been happening while I was off on my little vacation?"

Leia, nestled against him, snorted. "Only you, Solo, would refer to being frozen in carbonite as a vacation."

"Hey," He shrugged. "It wasn't too bad. A little boring, maybe. Not much to do, but lie there. Kind of like those Alliance staff meetings you dragged me to."

Leia's elbow connected lightly with his ribs, but she was conscious of the deliberately light tone that he had affected. She knew the experience had to have been a lot more traumatic than Han was letting on, but she also knew that there was no way he was going to discuss his feelings in front of the entire group. Later, when they had gotten out of here and were alone, than she could get it out of him. For now though, best to play along with him.

Chewie too, appeared to have picked up on Han's feelings, because whatever he growled had the others laughing.

"He said that lying around doing nothing could also describe my contribution to maintaining the _Falcon_." Han translated for her. "Which is such a load of shavit that I won't even bother to reply."

Chewie urfed out a laugh.

"Speaking of which, where _is_ my ship?"

"The _Falcon's_ hidden out by Ben's house along with our X-wings." Luke replied.

"Nothing's happened to her, right? You've all been careful?"

There was a moment of uncertain silence in which everyone else was suddenly very grateful for the complete darkness.

"What?" Han asked, nearly panicking.

"Nothing." Luke soothed him. "The _Falcon's _fine. We've all been taking very good care of your baby."

"I assure you, Captain Solo, I was very careful when I flew the ship." Threepio spoke up, his photoreceptors glowing in the darkness. "Despite Artoo's unhelpful advice, I was able to avoid the Imperial authorities and arrive at our destination, as directed, just in time to rescue everyone."

This time the silence wasn't just tense, it was downright terrified. Artoo whistled a mournful dirge.

"You let a _droid_ fly my ship?" Han asked in a deadly quiet voice. "Whose krethingly stupid idea was that?"

Had they been able to see, Luke knew everyone would have been looking directly at him. With an internal sigh, he figured he might as well face the music, all the while damning the droid. Apparently he needed to have another discussion with Threepio about the value of discretion. "That would be me, Han." He answered.

Even through the darkness, he could feel Han's lethal glare directed at him.

"What the hell were you thinking?" The Corellian snarled.

Luke winced at the venom in Han's voice. This wasn't going to end well. Unless…he could redirect Han's anger at someone else. With heartless glee, he threw Leia under the speeder. "I'm sorry, Han, but I didn't have much choice. I was desperate to rescue Leia and Aurora from Xizor."

Someone sucked in a breath.

"Wow, Luke." Aurora commented idly. "Just…wow."

"_What_?" Han's outraged yell echoed through the chamber.

"Thanks, a lot, Luke." Leia said bitterly.

He shrugged, even though she couldn't see it. "Sorry, but every man for himself."

"Somebody had better tell me what happened and they had better tell me now." Han ground out.

Leia sighed, and she began to relate the recent events that had led them to this small, dark ruin in the desert.

It took a while; mostly because Han kept interrupting in outrage, but also because everyone kept interjecting their own opinions. There was also a fair amount of editing going on. After all, she didn't think Han needed to know _all _of the details of what had happened with Xizor, and apparently Chewie and Aurora agreed, because neither of them contradicted her version of the events, although she thought she heard Chewbacca grumbling. She also noticed that when Luke related the events that had occurred on Tatooine while he and Aurora were waiting for Fett to show up, he didn't go into much detail; focusing mainly on the swoop gang that had attacked them and Aurora didn't seem in too much of a hurry to contradict him either. Lando too glossed over that frantic flight on Gall in pursuit of _Slave I_, making it seem much easier than it had been.

Still, Han got enough of the holo to make him realize just how much danger they had all been in, and he wasn't happy.

He had a few choice words for each of them, but eventually he settled down and they moved on to the latest news of the Alliance.

By that time though, it was getting late, well into Tatooine's night cycle, and the long events of the past few days were wearing on them all. Chewie had been silent for a while and she was pretty sure he had fallen asleep, which sounded like a pretty good idea.

Lando announced his intention of getting some shut eye too and the others concurred.

Leia was already lying down, her head resting on Han's shoulder. The sand was cold and gritty under her, but frankly, she was so exhausted that it didn't really matter. Han's arms around her were warm and comforting, and for the first time in weeks, she was able to relax.

She vaguely heard Luke and Aurora conversing quietly about something, but she wasn't paying attention any more, her eyes dropping closed.

The last thing she felt was Han's lips brush across her cheek and then she was out, her lips curved in a smile.

_RoJ_

Han awoke slowly, disoriented by the pitch blackness. He felt panic begin to descend, terrified that he was back in the carbonite; but he could hear the rasping of the sand outside and feel the coldness of the stone he was laying against.

He fought to push the raw terror back; he wasn't in carbonite, he was in some kind of ruin, and he wasn't alone; he was surrounded by his friends. After a moment, the fear relented and he simply lay there, feeling cold sweat trickle down his back and listening to the pounding of his heart, his own breath rasping in his ears.

Next to him, Leia stirred slightly and murmured in her sleep, but she didn't awaken.

"Han, are you all right?" A quiet voice asked from the darkness.

Grateful that he wasn't alone, he turned towards the sound, but it took him a minute to work up enough spit in his dry mouth to answer. "I'm fine."

There was a pause, and then the voice, Luke's voice, came again. "Bad dream?"

"Yeah." Han answered, hoping the kid couldn't hear how his voice was shaking. "What are you doing awake?"

"Aurora and I figured somebody had better keep an eye on the storm so we've been taking turns."

"You should have told me; I'd have helped." The Corellian said.

Leia stirred again as if disturbed by their voices, and Han slowly stood up. "Where are you? I'm coming over there."

"Over here." Luke called quietly back. "Come forward about ten feet and then turn to your right."

The smuggler tried to obey, but it was disorienting, to say the least, trying to move in the pitch blackness.

"A little further forward, now turn, keep coming."

Han shuffled slowly, hesitant on the rough ground and then felt a hand grasp his arm.

He settled down in the sand next to Luke. "How the hell can you even see?" He demanded.

"The Force can enhance your vision."

"That's a neat trick. What else did you learn while I was gone, besides how to leap ten feet in the air?"

He felt Luke shrug. "A few other things."

"Yeah? Like what?"

"Like how to deal with bad dreams."

Han was silent, letting Luke's words fall between them.

"Speaking from personal experience," Luke continued idly. "I'd have to say that no matter how normal or natural it may be to have bad dreams after certain experiences, they still suck…and that three o'clock in the morning on a starship is a really dark and cold time of the night."

Han wanted to speak, but the words were stuck in his throat. He wasn't the sharing kind, and even though the total darkness invited confidences, it just wasn't in his nature. Too much of his life had been devoted to building up walls and presenting false facades of bravado. To tear those down now, however helpful it might be, just wasn't possible.

But Luke seemed to understand that. He didn't press or even invite Han to share anything, he just kept talking in that calm, quiet and thoughtful tone.

"Now sometimes you can ignore it; shove it back or down or whatever and just deal with it later. Those are the good nights; but they're rare. Most of the time, you just end up sitting there, shaking, sweat pouring down, your mouth dryer than that sand out there and feeling like the biggest kriffing coward that ever lived."

"So what do you do?" Han managed.

Luke shrugged again. "Whatever. Take long walks, tinker with my X-wing, workout, lightsaber practice."

Han considered it. Hearing that someone else understood what it was to go through the gut-clenching fear actually did help, no matter how girlie that might sound. Especially when it was someone like the kid, who, for all his faults, had the kind of fearless courage that absolutely forbids even the consideration of labeling him a coward. And the fact that he _could_ talk about this, just made him that much braver in Han's opinion. Still, the atmosphere had gotten depressingly maudlin and was bordering on softheaded sentimentality, and he _was _Han Solo after all.

Time to lighten the mood before they both ended up crying on each other's shoulders and ruining any chance of ever being able to face each other again in the light of day.

"So, that last one – lightsaber practice – that wouldn't be a euphemism by any chance, would it?"

Luke's laugh floated out through the darkness. "Take it anyway you want, Solo."

"Huh." Han considered it. "Does this have to be solo practice or could you have a partner?"

Luke was utterly silent for a moment.

"Luke?" Han asked, worried that he'd offended him by kidding around when he'd been trying to help with a serious subject. "Kid? You okay?"

"Honestly?" Luke asked, "I'm a little scared right now. That sounded frighteningly like a proposition."

Scowling, the pilot aimed a good-natured punch in the kid's direction. "I had someone a little prettier than you in mind."

"Should I warn Chewie?"

"Maybe _I_ should," Han retorted, "Since you seem to think he's pretty."

"Well, he does have those big blue eyes, but, hey, he's married – so off limits."

Han snorted, the familiar banter relaxing him so that, finally, he felt like he was back where he belonged.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the _Star Wars _franchise and am not making any profit from this.

A/N: I profusely apologize for the inexcusable long delay since my last post. I stupidly agreed to teach 6 different composition classes last semester and the number of papers to grade was horrid. Thankfully, I'm only teaching 4 this semester, so I should be able to update much faster.

The storm finally blew itself out shortly before dawn, prompting Luke, who was a little worried about their water intake, to wake the others. Traveling before the suns rose meant that the air was going to be a little cold, but better that than risking them all getting overly dehydrated in the heat of the day.

He called out, feeling the others jolt awake. Most of them, accustomed to abrupt awakenings, were quick risers.

In the cold blue light of Aurora's lightsaber, they all look rumpled and dusty. Chewie was complaining about the amount of sand that he'd gotten in his fur.

"You want to try uncomfortable? Try sleeping in a metal bikini." Leia grouched.

Aurora winced. "You have my heartfelt sympathies."

The men exchanged uncomprehending shrugs.

"So, how do we get out of here?" Lando asked.

"Same way we got in here." Luke answered. He gestured to Aurora and they started to move towards the covered opening.

Aurora shifted her hand in preparation to deactivating her lightsaber, but Leia stopped her. "Here, I'll hold it."

Aurora raised one eyebrow, but didn't say anything, she just handed the glowing weapon to Leia and followed Luke.

Leia held the silvery hilt gingerly. She'd never held a lightsaber before, and was surprised at how alive it felt. It wasn't a passive weapon by any means. Yet, for all its beauty and power, at the moment Leia was more interested in it as a light source than anything else. It wasn't so much that she was heartily sick of the darkness – although she was - but she really wanted to watch Luke and Aurora as they did whatever it was they were going to do.

Luke was kneeling beneath the overturned skiff at the moment, his own lightsaber ignited in his hand while he studied it.

"What do you think?" Aurora asked from behind him. "Flip it or slide it?"

"Hmm." Luke shoved at the vehicle experimentally with his free hand. It didn't move. "Slide it first, then flip it when we have some room."

He turned off his lightsaber, automatically hooking it at his belt while he backed up and stood. "Looks like there's slightly less sand to the left. Push it that way."

"Gotcha."

Aurora closed her eyes, suddenly stilling completely. One hand lifted in front of her slightly.

Next to her, Luke mirrored her stance.

Leia suddenly felt as if the air around her was stirring, but nothing was moving. She glanced around, but the others weren't reacting, just watching curiously.

Still, she felt like _something_ was moving around her, pushing against her skin in a ghostly caress.

Her eyes went back to the two black-clad figures in front of her as there was a slight scraping sound and the skiff shifted slightly.

Aurora was frowning. "Damn, it's heavy!"

"The sand." Luke grunted. "It's piled on top of it."

They were both frowning now. She could see the muscles in Luke's arm standing out as he seemed to strain against something.

The skiff quivered again, and then slid smoothly to the side, sand pouring down and around it.

As one person, Luke and Aurora both thrust their hands up and the skiff lifted up on one edge, teetered, and then tipped over slowly, coming to rest on its repulsors.

The tension that had been building up in the small ruin was suddenly gone, just like that, and both Luke and Aurora seemed to slump, breathing a little faster.

"Size matters not, my ass." Aurora muttered.

"Now you know how _I_ felt." Luke replied.

The skiff hadn't suffered too much from its inversion and after a brief cleansing interlude in which Luke and Aurora sent clouds of sand flying out of the engine, the skiff was ready to go and they were on their way again.

Han didn't even mind too much when the first of the binary suns made its appearance over the horizon, heralding the return of the blistering heat, because at least this time, he could see it.

Glad to all be together again and safe, the remainder of the journey was made in good spirits, and it wasn't too long before the small stone house came into view; the camouflaged ships just visible behind it.

_RoJ_

Han settled into the familiar seat with a sigh. It felt like it had been years since he'd felt the familiar contours of the pilot's chair. He ran his hands caressingly over the console in front of him. "Miss me, baby?"

"Should I leave you two alone?" A dry voice asked from behind him.

He turned his head and grinned at Leia. "Nah. Just getting reacquainted with my girl here."

She raised one brow. "Why do I have a feeling I'm always going to have to compete with this ship for your affection?"

Han reached out and tugged her down into his lap. "I swear, it's purely platonic."

"Yeah, right. I've heard that before." She said, but a smile was tugging at her mouth and she relaxed into his arms.

Han would have continued the game, but those soft lips were entirely too tempting to resist and he took advantage of the moment of alone time.

Only the sound of footsteps coming down the corridor behind them had Leia lifting her head and slipping out of his arms.

"We're good to go, Han. The camo-net's off and packed away." Lando said as he entered the cockpit, followed by Chewie.

The big Wookiee slipped gracefully into the oversized co-pilot's seat and began a systems check.

Han couldn't stop the grin that spread across his face at the familiar thrumming of the engines coming online.

"What about Luke and Aurora?" Leia asked from where she had moved to the navigator's seat.

"They were going to get the house sealed up and then they'd be ready to go." Lando replied.

"Sealing the house up?" Han asked, as he ran a series of quick diagnostics.

"Luke said he didn't want anything to happen to the house or its contents."

"Luke did? I'd think Aurora would be more concerned. After all, it was her father's house." Leia said frowning.

Lando shrugged and then grinned slyly. "Maybe he just wanted to preserve some memories."

Chewie urffed in laughter.

"Huh?" Han asked in confusion.

"Nothing, Han. Private joke; you had to be there." Lando said, still smiling.

Leia looked just as confused as he felt, but the crackling of the com drew his attention. He'd just have to ask Chewie about it later, he decided, activating the com.

"That you, kid?"

"Yep. How's everything?" Luke's voice came back.

"We're good to go here. How 'bout you two?"

"All systems go." Luke replied.

"Four in the green." Aurora's voice came through.

"Then let's blow this dustball." Han stated. With a mile-wide grin, he hit the thrusters, sending the _Falcon_ zooming up into the atmosphere.

Leia let out a gasp at the suddenness of the maneuver, but Han only registered it faintly. He was too busy thrilling at the familiar feel of the ship's controls under his hands.

On either side, the X-wings mirrored his move, matching his speed.

Han was tempted to put the ship through some flips and dives just for the joy of flying again, but he didn't want to draw too much attention to them. Especially with two Alliance fighters flanking the ship.

Thankfully, they reached space without incident and Leia punched in the coordinates for the first leg of the trip.

The com beeped and Aurora's voice came through. "Looks like we're in the clear. You're good to go."

"Sure you two don't want to ditch those crates and hitch a ride with us?" Han asked.

"We're sure." Aurora responded. "I've had enough of Lando's cooking to last me a lifetime."

Lando's insulted "Hey!" came through clearly.

"Sorry, Han. But we've got a promise to keep to an old friend." Luke said, ignoring the byplay. "We'll meet you back at the fleet."

"Hurry." Leia interjected. "The Alliance should be assembled by now."

"We will." Luke assured her.

"Hey, thanks." Han said, his tone suddenly serious. "Thanks for coming after me. Now I owe _you_ one."

"Will you get going before we have to rescue your butt again." Aurora said, exasperated.

The _Falcon_ dipped once to each side in the ship's version of a wave, and then it was gone with the pseudo-ripple of hyperspace.

"Ready?" Luke asked.

"Swampy muck and mud, here we come." Aurora deadpanned, before hitting the hyperdrive.

In seconds, both ships were gone.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the _Star Wars _franchise and am not making any profit from this.

Unlike last time, their arrival at Dagobah was unremarkable and both Luke and Aurora were able to set their ships down uneventfully not too far from the small mud hut. It wasn't long before they had both doffed their helmets and flightsuits and had made their way to Yoda's home.

Aurora didn't have to reach out with the Force to sense that Luke's shock was as great as her own at the frail appearance of their master. It didn't seem as if they had been gone that long, but Yoda had visibly deteriorated in their absence; his skin nearly translucent, his breathing more labored and movement an effort.

She had the brief thought that maybe he had only been holding on, waiting for their return.

She and Luke, each wedged into a corner with the distressing ease of familiarity, avoided looking at each other, as if by avoiding eye contact, they could evade the subject entirely.

Yoda, painfully making his way across the mud floor of the hut, suddenly smiled. "Hmm. Those faces you make. Look I so old to young eyes?"

Luke instantly rearranged his face. "No…of course not."

Yoda chuckled. "I do, yes, I do! Sick have I become. Old and weak." One gnarled finger rose in good humored instruction. "When nine hundred years old you reach, look as good you will not. Hmm?"

Aurora couldn't quite stop the smile that tugged at her lips. Despite her angry suspicions regarding the old Jedi's actions, she couldn't deny that he had an engaging personality – when he wanted to.

As if suddenly sensing her mood, his chuckle dissolved into a cough and Yoda resumed his hobble to the bed tucked against the wall. "Soon will I rest. Yes, forever sleep. Earned it, I have." He sat down on the edge of the bed, a sigh escaping him.

Luke, who was perhaps slightly more forgiving than she, looked distressed again. "Master Yoda, you can't die."

Yoda's eyes closed briefly, as if in exasperation, then opened again to look at his student. "Strong am I with the Force…but not that strong! Twilight is upon me and soon night must fall. That is the way of things…the way of the Force." He lay back, pulling at the ragged blanket to cover himself.

"But we need your help. We've come back to complete our training." Luke persisted, leaning forward to gently help ease the covers over the Jedi.

Aurora kept silent, sitting against the far wall. She had agreed to come back, but her motives were unclear, even to herself. She wanted to complete her training, yes, but even more than that, she wanted answers to her questions regarding Vader and her teachers' knowledge of his origins. Because she was more and more certain that Vader was, in fact, Anakin Skywalker and that both Yoda and her own father had known this and concealed it, for reasons of their own.

Yoda sighed and lay back on his bed. "No more training do you require. Already know that which you need."

Aurora raised one eyebrow. That seemed awfully coincidental.

Even Luke, for all of his customary trustfulness, looked slightly dubious. "Then we are Jedi?"

Yoda shook his head, groaning slightly as he raised himself up on one elbow to look directly at Luke. "Not yet. One thing remains: Vader. You must confront Vader. Then, only then, a Jedi will you be. And confront him you will."

Luke was silent, digesting this for a moment. His face twisted slightly. Aurora knew he was battling with himself whether or not to ask the question. Until he did, the possibility that Darth Vader was his father remained just that – a possibility. But once he asked the question, once he had the answer, then there would be no more doubt. No more twisting, teasing possibility that the Dark Lord had lied.

Luke met Aurora's eyes and grimaced. He could tell by the stubborn set of her chin that if he didn't ask, then she probably would. They had argued about this after Bespin. She was furious with Ben and Yoda; convinced that they not only had known the truth, but that they had deliberately set out to conceal it in order to further their own means. While he was willing to acknowledge that they probably did know the truth of his father's death, he wasn't quite as ready to condemn them for their motives.

With a heavy sigh, he knew he had to ask. Not knowing was driving him mad, and no matter how bitter the truth, it had to be better than this constant, clawing doubt.

A Jedi faced his demons; he didn't hide behind willful ignorance…

"Master Yoda…is Darth Vader my father?"

The diminutive Jedi master was silent, then he turned carefully onto his side, his back to the room. "Mmm….rest I need. Yes….rest."

Aurora's face hardened, refusing to be moved by the unwilling pity she felt. "Master Yoda, you can't conveniently shove this aside. Luke deserves the truth."

"Yoda, I must know." Luke pleaded.

The little alien's shoulders lifted and dropped in a heavy sigh, his back still to them. "Your father he is."

Luke jerked as if he'd been hit with a stunner, all the color draining from his face at the sudden confirmation of his worst fear. He looked suddenly lost, as if he didn't have the faintest idea what to do now.

It was all Aurora could do not to cross the small hut and wrap her arms around him; shielding him from all of the hurts that the galaxy had inflicted. Only the knowledge that it was the last thing Luke would want right now kept her sitting where she was.

Yoda seemed unaware of the turmoil lashing around the room. He continued speaking as if he hadn't just dropped a planet-sized detonator. "Told you, did he?"

"Yes." Luke said, dazed.

"Unexpected this is, and unfortunate."

"Unfortunate that Luke knows the truth?" Aurora snapped.

"No." Yoda struggled to turn and face her. "Unfortunate that you rushed to face him…that incomplete was your training. Not ready for the burden was he."

Luke shook his head, shoulders slumping. "I'm sorry."

"Don't you dare apologize!" Aurora hissed. "You're the one who was lied to. Master Yoda should be apologizing to you."

"Aurora-" Luke began, startled at her vehemence, but Yoda cut him off.

"No, let her continue." The Jedi Master regarded the angry face of his other student. "Lied, did I?"

"Yes. You knew the truth of who Luke's father was, but you concealed it from him. You could have told him at any time, but instead you let him think that Anakin Skywalker had died, and instead he found out in the worst possible way."

"Told you I did, not to go. Not ready, were you, but listen you would not." He closed his eyes wearily.

"So this is our fault? Because we chose to go rescue our friends instead of staying here. Tell me, Master, if we had stayed, would Luke ever had found out the truth? If Vader hadn't told him, would you have? Or would you have sent him after Vader without ever telling him that you were sending him to kill his own father?" Aurora spat.

Luke flinched. He tried to conceal it, but he knew that both Aurora and Yoda had noticed. Still, neither acknowledged it, caught up in their own battle.

"Know so much, do you?" Yoda said, shaking his head in disappointment as if this was just another lesson. "Always so cynical and unwilling to trust others. Can you not believe that had my reasons, I did? That protecting the boy I was?"

"Protecting him? From what? The truth?"

"No! From hesitation, from doubt – from emotion." Yoda rasped. "Think you that face Vader he would have, so fearlessly, so confidently, had he known? No! Plagued by indecision he might have been. Reluctant to hurt his father, to inflict pain." The old Jedi's lips firmed, though his voice had weakened. "Had hesitation caused by undefined emotional ties stayed his hand, dead he would have been."

The words fell into a sudden silence.

Aurora was biting her lip, unwilling to concede her justified anger so easily, but unable to ignore the possibility that Yoda's motives might have been exactly what he was claiming. As always, she was of two minds regarding the little Jedi Master's intentions.

Wise old eyes watched her struggle. "Told you, I did: an unenviable position a Jedi has – to see both sides."

Her shoulders slumped, suddenly weary. She was still angry, still suspicious, but she couldn't deny that Yoda was absolutely right in his assessment of Luke's behavior. He would have hesitated to strike at Vader if he had known. He wouldn't have been able to help himself.

The old Jedi sighed, slumping down in his bed, "Remember, a Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware. Anger, fear, aggression – the dark side are they. Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny."

Aurora nodded and Yoda turned away, apparently satisfied that this was one lesson his stubborn student would take to heart.

When he spoke again, his voice was weaker still, his remaining strength almost visibly draining from him. "Luke…Luke…do not…do not underestimate the powers of the Emperor, or suffer your father's fate, you will."

Luke in turn nodded, his eyes fastened on his master's face as the little alien coughed hoarsely, wheezing for breath.

"When gone am I, the last of the Jedi will you be." His eyes darted between the two of them, apparently too weak to move his head. "The Force is strong in your families. Pass on what you have learned." Heavy lids fell and both Luke and Aurora leaned forward, holding their breath.

But the former Grand Master of the Jedi Order wasn't quite done yet. With obvious effort, Yoda forced his eyes open and one hand moved weakly towards Luke. "There is…another…Sky…Sky…walker." The word trailed off into silence as the frail body shivered slightly and then stilled, the great eyes dimming of life.

Yoda's body shimmered slightly and then disappeared, the blankets collapsing gently to the bed.

He heard Aurora let out a soft breath and then she was next to him, her arms coming around him comfortingly and Luke turned his face into her hair, feeling sorrow sweep over him in waves as he absorbed the loss of yet another friend.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the _Star Wars _franchise and am not making any profit from this.

Luke wasn't certain how long they knelt there, but his legs were numb when he finally pulled away from her.

"Thanks."

Aurora shrugged, but Luke caught her hand before she could turn away. "No, Aurora, I mean it – thanks. It really means a lot that, well – that despite everything else, we can still be friends."

"We _are_ friends, Luke." She said firmly. "Despite everything else." A small smile twisted her lips as she repeated his euphemism.

Luke flushed slightly, embarrassed that he still tended to avoid mentioning in explicit words their night together on Tatooine.

"Come on." She stood up as much as she was able to in the small hut. "Let's get out of here before Artoo thinks we abandoned him."

Luke was slow to follow her, glancing around the interior of the little home, trying to absorb the details. He felt hollow inside, as if he was leaving behind a part of himself.

"Goodbye, Master Yoda." He whispered, before leaving.

Outside, Aurora was already at her ship, checking the exterior and readying it for takeoff.

Artoo, upon spotting Luke, beeped consolingly at him. Luke guessed that Aurora had told the droid what had happened.

Luke let one hand drop onto the smooth metal dome of the little astromech. He still felt lost; cut off from his source of direction, and he wasn't certain what to do next.

"I can't do it, Artoo. I can't go on alone." He whispered.

"Yoda will always be with you." A voice suddenly said.

Luke glanced up, somehow not surprised to see the shimmering form of Obi-Wan Kenobi watching him. An array of conflicting emotions swamped him: joy, sadness, anger, betrayal…

"Obi-Wan! Why didn't you tell me?" He demanded as the bluish form moved towards him. "You told me Vader betrayed and murdered my father."

"Your father was seduced by the dark side of the Force. He ceased to be Anakin Skywalker and became Darth Vader. When that happened, the good man who was your father was destroyed." Obi-Wan spread his hands. "So, what I have told you was true…from a certain point of view."

"A certain point of view!" Aurora said derisively, suddenly appearing next to Luke.

Obi-Wan regarded his daughter calmly. "Aurora, you're going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."

She snorted scornfully.

Obi-Wan sighed, glancing from her unresponsive face to Luke's uncertain one.

"I don't blame you for being angry. If I was wrong in what I did, it certainly wouldn't have been the first time. You see, what happened to your father was my fault." He paused for a moment, a look of sadness passing over his face as he sat down on a nearby log. "Anakin was a good friend."

Entranced, Luke moved closer, taking a seat on a stump with Artoo by his side. Aurora, refusing to be drawn in, remained standing next to the X-Wing's landing strut, her arms crossed over her chest.

Obi-Wan glanced at her, but directed his words to Luke. "When I first knew him, your father was already a great pilot. But I was amazed how strongly the Force was with him. I took it upon myself to train him as a Jedi. I thought that I could instruct him just as well as Yoda. I was wrong. My pride has had terrible consequences for the galaxy."

"There's still good in him." Luke stated. There was an edge of a question in the words.

"I also thought he could be turned back to the good side. It couldn't be done. He is more machine now than man. Twisted and evil." Obi-Wan replied.

Luke shook his head. "I can't do it, Ben."

"You cannot escape your destiny."

"Destiny." Aurora scoffed. "Why is it our destiny always seems to line up with the wishes of the Jedi?"

Her father raised his eyes to her. "Perhaps because quite frequently the Jedi _are_ agents of destiny."

"Isn't that convenient."

"Aurora –"

"No." She held up her hand. "You know what? I don't really want to listen to this anymore. You go ahead and spin whatever tales you want for Luke; convince him that it's his fate to do whatever it is you need doing, but I'm done with this."

"Aurora – " This time it was Luke who called out her name, but she didn't listen to him either, just continued walking away until her figure was lost in the darkness.

Luke turned back to Ben, uncertain what to say. He almost felt like he should apologize. "Ben, she didn't mean it."

Obi-Wan smiled at him, although the expression was edged with sadness. "Yes, she did. She's angry and she has every right to be." He considered the young man in front of him thoughtfully. "She is also fiercely protective of you."

Luke hoped like hell that his blush wasn't discernable in the dark. It was definitely time to change the subject.

He cleared his throat. "I tried to stop him once. I couldn't do it."

Obi-Wan was still studying his former student, but he allowed the switch back to their former topic. "Vader humbled you when first you met him, Luke…but that experience was part of your training. It taught you, among other things, the value of patience. Had you not been so impatient to defeat Vader then, you could have finished your training here with Yoda. You would have been prepared."

"But I had to help my friends." Luke protested.

Something that could only be described as a grin crossed Obi-Wan's bearded face. "And did you help them? It was they who had to save you. You achieved little by rushing back prematurely, I fear."

Luke felt the sting of the little rebuke. "I found out Darth Vader was my father." He said, an edge of defiance to the words.

"To be a Jedi, Luke, you must confront and then go beyond the dark side – the side your father couldn't get past. Impatience is the easiest door for you, like your father. Only, your father was seduced by what he found on the other side of the door, and you have held firm. You're no longer so reckless now, Luke. You are strong and patient. And now, you must face Darth Vader again!"

And there was the crux of the situation. Luke ran his hands over his face. "I can't kill my own father."

Obi-Wan drew back, cold finality settling in his voice. "Then the Emperor has already won. You cannot kill him and Aurora won't, for fear of hurting you. The two of you were our only hope."

Luke raised his head. "Yoda spoke of another."

Obi-Wan nodded. "The other he spoke of is your twin sister."

Luke's mouth gaped open as he struggled to get past the shock. _Sister? But –_ "But I have no sister!"

"Hmm. To protect you both from the Emperor, you were hidden from your father when you were born. The Emperor knew, as I did, if Anakin were to have any offspring, they would be a threat to him. That is the reason why your sister remains safely anonymous."

Luke was overwhelmed. To go from thinking you were an orphan, completely devoid of any of the normal ties that other beings had, to suddenly finding that you not only had a father - who just happened to be the second most feared being in the galaxy – but also a twin sister? It was too much. His place in the galaxy suddenly seemed to be whirling around him and the foundations that had seemed so firm to him all his life were suddenly nothing but stories, concocted by other people.

A sister – a _twin_ sister. What would it feel like to have that connection with another person? Not like what he felt for Aurora – that was so far from brotherly affection that it was almost laughable. No, he imagined that it would feel something like his relationship with Leia. Warm and caring – love and affection and protectiveness and –_wait_….

Obi-Wan was watching him steadily, waiting.

"Leia! Leia's my sister." Luke said. It wasn't a question; he was certain of the truth of his words.

"Your insight serves you well." Obi-Wan said approvingly. "Bury your feelings deep down, Luke. They do you credit, but they could be made to serve the Emperor."

Luke was still trying to process all of this. He could only nod as Obi-Wan continued.

"When your father left, he didn't know your mother had successfully given birth. I knew he would find out eventually, but we wanted to keep you both as safe as possible, for as long as possible. So I took you to live with your father's step-brother Owen on Tatooine….and Leia was sent to live as the daughter of Senator Organa, on Alderaan.

"The Organa household was high-born and politically quite powerful in that system. Leia became a princess by virtue of lineage…no one knew she'd been adopted, of course. But it was a title without real power, since Alderaan had long been a democracy. Even so, the family continued to be politically powerful, and Leia, following in her foster father's path, became a senator as well. That's not all she became, of course…she became the leader of her cell in the Alliance against the corrupt Empire. And because she had diplomatic immunity, she was a vital link for getting information to the Rebel cause. That's what she was doing when her path crossed yours…for her foster parents had always told her to contact me on Tatooine, if her troubles became desperate."

"Does our father know of her?"

"No. Anakin never knew there were twins."

Suddenly Luke felt even more protective of Leia than he had been. "But you can't let her get involved now, Ben. Vader will destroy her."

Obi-Wan regarded him with no little amusement. "She hasn't been trained in the ways of the Jedi the way you have, Luke…but the Force is strong with her, as it is with all of your family. There is no avoiding the battle. You must face and destroy Vader!"

Luke stood up, pacing restless around the clearing. "And what part does Aurora play in all this?"

"I don't know. But I fear what plans the Emperor has for her."

Luke paused, thinking. "Xizor told her that the Emperor was interested in her. But as just another Jedi to turn or something else?"

Obi-Wan looked sober. "She isn't just another Jedi, Luke. She is a _female_ Jedi and currently the only one in the galaxy."

A look of horror was dawning on Luke's face as Obi-Wan continued. "Vader is Palpatine's apprentice, but he is damaged. Fortunately, from the Emperor's point of view, he sired a child before the damage occurred. However, if the Sith dynasty that Palpatine is constructing is to continue, then Vader's son also needs to sire a child – and here is an available female, strong in the Force and of child-bearing age."

Luke felt sick. "A broodmare. He'll use her – us – to breed a line of Force-strong children."

"Yes, I fear that is his plan."

Luke felt even guiltier about that night on Tatooine. They could have inadvertently played right into the Emperor's hands. If they had conceived a child that night…the thought was a strange mixture of terror and pleasure. The Emperor would stop at nothing to get his hands on such a Force strong infant, but the idea of Aurora pregnant with _his_ child…

He was suddenly aware of Obi-Wan watching him closely and fervently hoped that his former master wasn't reading his thoughts.

"You should talk to her." Luke said. "She needs to hear this or there's no telling what she'll do."

Obi-Wan shook his head. "She doesn't want to hear it from me."

"Better you than me. It would be…awkward coming from me." Luke said. He hoped that was enough and that Ben wouldn't ask questions or this was going to get ugly fast. "Besides, you need to settle things between you. I know Aurora – as angry as she is, she's also feeling guilty about arguing with you, considering you're, you know…" Luke trailed off awkwardly, not certain how to finish the sentence without being offensive.

Obi-Wan smiled. "Dead?"

"Yes."

"Hmm. You could be right." The translucent figure stood up. "It is better to settle this rather than have Aurora continue to nurse this anger. After all, such strong emotions can be dangerous."

Obi-Wan followed the path Aurora took and left Luke standing in the clearing, contemplating the Jedi's last words. Had there been a veiled insinuation there?


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the _Star Wars _franchise and am not making any profit from this.

Aurora found herself once more sitting in a familiar spot on the edge of the swamp. The water was still under the pale moonlight, but its apparent tranquility did nothing to sooth the emotions frothing inside of her.

Certain point of view or not, her father had still _lied. _And he had done it in such a way that finding out the truth had been even more devastating to Luke than it might have otherwise been.

That was what she couldn't quite forgive. Because whatever Master Yoda said about protecting Luke from indecision, the way the two Jedi Masters had gone about it had been manipulative. They had an agenda, and whether they spoke the truth or not, every word they uttered was designed to nudge Luke in the direction they wanted him to go.

She didn't need him to speak to know when her father had come up behind her.

"Finished telling tales?"

"I've finished telling Luke the truth, yes."

"The truth? And from which point of view is it this time?"

Obi-Wan sighed at the venom in her voice. "Aurora, I know you're angry, but –"

"Spare me the bedtime stories, Ben. I don't need them." She rose to face him. "I understand what you did; I even - somewhat - understand why you did it. What I don't understand is the _way_ you did it. You deliberately built Anakin Skywalker up into a hero in Luke's head. You made him worship the man. Why? Why do that if you planned to tell him the truth all along?"

"Anakin Skywalker _was_ a hero. He saved many lives during the Clone Wars. I didn't make him into anything that he wasn't."

"No, you just deliberately left out the part where the hero turned to the dark side, abandoned his pregnant wife and became the bane of the galaxy." She fought to keep her voice steady. "You purposely manipulated Luke into idolizing his father so that he would do anything to be like him, thus ensuring that he'd turn to the ways of the Force and become a Jedi."

"Yes."

Her father's flat affirmation had Aurora stopping cold. "You're not even going to deny it?"

"No. I did everything I could to make Luke leave Tatooine and come with me. I had to go and it was too dangerous for him to stay without me. Think of what might have happened had he stayed."

Aurora thought back to that day. There had been a definitely increased Imperial presence on the planet, searching for the droids and the Death Star plans. "Someone would have turned him in. Either he would have been killed or Vader would have found him." She said quietly.

"Yes, and without any training in the Force, Luke would have turned."

Feeling sick, Aurora turned away. "It was still cruel."

"It was."

"And letting him find out the way he did – why didn't you or Yoda tell him later?"

"I believe Yoda has already told you his reasons for concealing the truth."

She dropped her head into her hands, pressing the heels into her eyes as if that would stop the thoughts whirling around in her head. What had been done was cruel, there was no denying that, but perhaps, it _had_ been done with good intentions. Maybe that was just what it meant to be a Jedi – doing the necessary thing, no matter how hard or cruel it seemed.

She hesitated, ready to finally let go of the anger that she had been carrying around since Bespin, but she needed one more final truth.

"One last thing – if Vader hadn't revealed his identity, would you ever have told Luke?"

"I would have, eventually."

"Eventually." She repeated, her eyes narrowing. "Before or after he went after Vader?"

Obi-Wan considered her with a steady gaze. "I don't know."

_RoJ_

Luke turned at the sound of her soft footsteps coming down the path. When she entered the clearing, she looked as exhausted as he felt. The emotional turmoil of the day was clearly taking its toll.

"Are you all right?"

She looked up at his question. "Yes. At least – I'm not mad anymore, or not much anyway." Her shoulders moved in a heavy sigh. "I don't know. I'm still angry, but maybe they really were doing what they thought was best. Mind you, I still think they went about it poorly, but – who knows? In their places, maybe I would have done the same thing." She shook her head in frustration. "I'm just – I'm so damn _tired_! Not physically, really, but – " Her hands moved, searching for the right word.

"Emotionally?" Luke supplied.

"Yes." She smiled faintly. "Which, I suppose, is a really unJedi-like thing to say."

"'There is no emotion, there is peace'." Luke quoted.

Another faint smile. "Peace. Right." Aurora dropped down onto the log her father had recently been sitting on. "Remind me what that is again?"

Despite the game smile, she really did look tired. And to be honest, he wasn't feeling that much better himself. It had been a day full of emotional surprises, most of them unpleasant.

He glanced around the familiar clearing and made a swift decision.

"Let's stay here tonight."

She glanced up at him in surprise. "But I thought you were worried about what was happening back with the Alliance?"

"I am, but they weren't expecting us back right away, after all. We were supposed to be finishing our training, remember? I think they can manage without us for another day and, frankly, I think we could both use the rest. It was a long trip and it's been an…eventful day."

"To say the least." Aurora said absently, obviously considering his words.

"Come on. Let's take one night, just for us, before we have to throw ourselves back into all the shavit. One last night of being just Luke and Aurora and not Jedi Knights."

She hesitated, but Luke could tell she liked the idea.

"We've been going non-stop for months, Aurora, with very little downtime. Even Jedi have their limits."

She looked at him with no little amusement. "Isn't that my line? Aren't I usually the one trying to persuade _you_ to relax a little?"

"Yeah, well." He shrugged. "I'm freaking tired too."

He'd known it was the right line to take. Aurora instantly looked sympathetic. "Okay, let's sleep here tonight and we'll take off in the morning. The Alliance can't miss us that much in one day."

Luke felt relieved. He wasn't quite ready to go back and face everyone yet. His knowledge of Vader's true identity, the task that Yoda and Ben had set before him, even his new relationship with Leia, all weighed heavily on him and he just wanted to set aside their burden for a few more hours.

Resolute now, Aurora pushed up from the log, brushing off her pants. "Okay, it's a little cold to be sleeping out here, which means we'll have to sleep in the house. I know it's a little disrespectful, but I can't bear trying to curl up like a pretzel again in that room. Do you think Yoda would mind if we moved his furniture so that there's room for us to stretch out?"

"I don't think so."

An hour or so later found them settled comfortably in the tiny hut. Most of the furniture had been pushed into one corner, leaving enough space for the two of them to spread out their thermal blankets in front of the fireplace.

Artoo was snuggled comfortably into his socket in Luke's X-wing, it having been determined that there wasn't quite enough space for the droid in the hut as well. He didn't seem to mind too much, as he seemed to be chittering away happily with the ship before Luke had even taken two steps.

He ducked under the low lintel of the hut to find Aurora on her hands and knees, rummaging through a cupboard.

After taking a brief moment to appreciate the view she was inadvertently presenting him with, Luke shook himself out of his reverie and closed the door behind him. He knew that the situation they were in was more than a little risky, considering the directions his thoughts usually took around her, but he was determined to maintain his vow of friendship. Which meant not checking out his friend's ass….no matter how good it looked. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for something edible."

"I grabbed some ration bars from my ship."

Aurora threw him a withering glance over her shoulder. "I said edible."

Luke snorted and sat down on the thermal bags. "Good luck with that."

After a few moments, Aurora joined him, a small cache of items in her hands.

"I found some of those roots he used to roast – those weren't too bad – and some dried nuts and berries, some of that green leafy stuff he always used to throw in the stew, and _this_!"

She held up a dusty bottle, covered in some kind of cloth wrapping and corked.

"What is it?" Luke asked, accepting the food she handed him.

"I don't know." Aurora pulled at the waxed cork until it popped loose with a hollow thunk and a faint odor of berries wafted out.

Aurora sniffed carefully. "Smells like some kind of wine." She took a cautious sip. "Not bad. Fruity." She took another, larger drink, and coughed. "Strong." She said hoarsely, her cheeks developing an attractive pink tinge.

Luke laughed, but he wasn't entirely certain that drinking alcohol was a good idea when they were together like this. He still wondered a little how much those couple of glasses of Corellian whisky had lowered their inhibitions that night in Ben's house. Then again, they'd been drinking together for years, both with and without the Rogues, and had never ended up together in bed any other time. He mentally shrugged and reached for the bottle.

"Give me that before you fall down."

The look she gave him was decidedly scornful. "Like I couldn't drink you under the table."

Luke snorted and took a drink. He felt the liquor burn its way down his throat and had to fight back a cough of his own. It was strong, whatever it was, and tasted like tibanna gas flavored with berries, although it kindled a pleasant warmth in his stomach.

Aurora was watching him knowingly. "Uh huh."

"What? I can handle it." He said, ignoring the way his eyes were trying to water. "I'm not the one who couldn't find her own room on Hoth after that one sabaac game."

"I found my own room." She protested, taking the back the bottle and tipping it back for another drink.

"Yeah, the next day."

"I still found it." She stated, passing him back the bottle.

He took another drink. "That doesn't count. The alcohol had already worn off by then."

"Oh, trust me. It hadn't. Why do you think I was so happy the speeders still weren't ready? The last thing I wanted to do was get up and fly."

"Why do you think I didn't _bother_ to see if the speeders were ready?"

"Why, you sneaky, little brat."

The bottle exchanged hands again. Whatever it was, it really was strong, as Luke could already feel a tingling in the tip of his nose and a slight dizziness. He could easily banish the effects of the alcohol with the Force, but he didn't feel like it. In fact, it might be nice to sit here in the warm, firelit room, and get just a little buzzed…whether it was Jedilike or not.


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the _Star Wars _franchise and am not making any profit from this.

Some time had passed and Luke was slumped comfortably against the wall, one knee raised, his arm resting on it. The food was gone and the bottle was more than half empty.

Aurora was lying on her back, idly playing with the cork she had removed.

He was feeling mellow enough to bring up a somewhat uncomfortable conversation.

"Aurora?"

"Hmmm?"

"When Ben talked to you, did he mention anything about…." He found that maybe he wasn't quite as comfortable as he'd thought bringing up the awkward subject and he grabbed the bottle again.

She glanced up at him. "About what? Your father? Didn't you guys talk about that?"

Luke leapt at the opening she'd given him, suddenly very reluctant to discuss the Emperor's plans for the two of them. "Oh, well, yeah, he talked about my father and a little bit about what happened to him. I'm going to have to confront him eventually. Probably sooner rather than later."

Aurora nodded, absently taking the bottle back and drinking from it. "I figured that. It's what Yoda and my father have been preparing us for all along. Going after Vader and the Emperor." She eyed Luke carefully. "How do you feel about that?"

Luke shrugged. "To be honest, I don't really know how I feel. I know he's a monster and he needs to be stopped, but…." He raised his eyes to meet hers. "There is still good in him. I felt it, on Bespin, although I didn't want to admit it. You were right when you said he could have killed me and didn't. I don't think he could bring himself to kill his own son."

Aurora was pretty sure that Vader might have had a few other motives when he'd spared Luke's life, ones that probably weren't quite as altruistic as Luke would like to believe, but she kept her mouth shut. Luke wasn't stupid; he knew the situation was far from cut and dried, but it was something that he was going to have to come to terms with on his own. Besides, there was that brief moment of what she was positive was regret that she had felt from Vader when she'd spoken to him on Coruscant. Perhaps Vader's feelings regarding Luke weren't any clearer than his son's.

She decided a change of subject was in order. "I was wondering if Ben mentioned anything else about what Yoda had said – about another Skywalker."

A strange look crossed Luke's face. He still wasn't certain how to react to the news that Leia was his sister. On one level, he was thrilled; he'd always wanted siblings and to find out that it was Leia was just icing on the ryshcate. But on the other, it felt strange to suddenly have this bond with another being when previously he'd been so alone.

He also, if he was strictly honest with himself, wasn't entirely certain how Aurora was going to take it. He knew there was tension between the two women and, without wanting to appear too egotistical, knew that jealousy over him was part of the problem. Still, concealing his knowledge of his relationship with Leia from Aurora was never an option.

He took a deep breath now in response to Aurora's question. "Actually, he did. It appears I have a sister."

Aurora's eyes widened. "What? How?"

A dry smiled twisted Luke's lips slightly. "I'd imagine in the usual way."

"That's not what I meant. I mean, older? Younger? Is she a full sister or just half?"

"Yes, full siblings. My twin, apparently."

"Twins." Aurora's eyes unfocused slightly as she appeared to consider it. "Wow. That's got to be a little strange." She said, her gaze returning to him, searching for his reaction.

He nodded. "It is. And it gets stranger. It's Leia."

This time it was Aurora's turn for her mouth to drop open in shock. _Leia_? Leia was Luke's twin sister?

She was ashamed to realize that her first instinctive reaction was jealousy. It wasn't fair. For years now she'd been one of the most important people in Luke's life – or so she'd always assumed – and now, simply because of an accident of birth, Leia was going to have a prior claim on his affections. It was small and petty of her, but she couldn't help it.

To her relief however, she was able to shove the jealousy aside and focus on what this would mean to Luke. Suddenly, after so many years alone, he had someone to share a history and a heritage with. It had to feel incredible. And it was someone with whom he'd already been close, which must make it all the better. She could be happy for him. And if a small part of that happiness was because this had absolutely removed Leia as any kind of a romantic threat, well, no one had to know that but her.

That thought led to another, less appetizing one, and a strange look must have crossed her face.

"Aurora," Luke said, concerned at her continued silence. "Say something."

"Oh." The dazed looked faded slightly as her eyes came back into focus and turned to him, and she tactlessly blurted out the line of thought she'd been following . "Guess that puts a whole new perspective on that kiss she gave you on Hoth, huh?"

The slightly worried look on Luke's face slowly changed to one of horrified dismay and then became decidedly nauseated. He swallowed hard, twice, and one hand came up slowly to press against his stomach. After a couple of close minutes in which he wasn't sure he was going to be able to keep dinner down, Luke won the battle with his outraged sensibilities and dared to open his mouth.

"Don't ever mention that again." He whispered hoarsely. "Ever."

"Fine by me," Aurora said, her own complexion looking slightly green. "I'd just as soon never even _think_ about it again."

"Agreed."

After several silent moments, he held out his hand. "Hand over the bottle. I suddenly feel a desperate need to wash out my mouth."

She nodded. "Completely understandable." She handed him the bottle and didn't say a word as he gulped down several mouthfuls, shuddering slightly when the potent liquor hit his stomach.

After a few moments, he felt sufficiently fortified enough to try again to bring up the other somewhat awkward topic.

Handing her back the bottle, he said, in what he hoped was a casual manner, "Um, did Ben also happen to mention…."

Aurora was watching him closely and even in the flickering light of the fire she could tell he was blushing. She took pity on him. "His idea of our starring roles in the Potential Sith Breeding program? Yes."

"Oh. Good." Luke looked awkward, but relieved.

Okay, maybe she wasn't going to go that easy on him. He was so damn cute when he squirmed. She flapped a careless hand. "It's fine. He explained his theory, which I have to admit, makes sense considering the Emperor's megalomaniacal tendencies. He'd love to found his own little Sith dynasty." A slight smirk was twisting her lips, and she turned her head before Luke could see it. "But I told my father that it wasn't a problem – we used protection."

It took a second before her words sank in, but then Luke's reaction was everything she could have hoped for. He actually paled several shades while his eyes bugged out and his jaw dropped open in shock. "You – what - you told _Ben?_"

She burst out laughing. "Relax – Force, you're easy to wind up."

Luke scowled. "Ha. Ha. Glad I can provide you with a source of amusement."

She patted his leg amiably and offered the bottle back in consolation. "Sorry. I couldn't resist."

Luke took a drink and then held the bottle away from her. "Just for that, I should drink the rest of this myself."

"That would be just cruel."

"So was that!"

"Oh, come on. Laying aside the whole issue of my being an adult and not answerable to my father, how can you be scared of him? He's dead!"

Luke scowled again, but relinquished the bottle. "Yeah, well, that doesn't stop him from coming and having conversations with us, does it? Who knows what else the Force lets him do? I mean, what happens if he comes back and can read my thoughts? Then he'll know that I think about –" He cut himself off, but he was too late. Even rather tipsy, Aurora was quick enough to catch it.

"You think about – what?" She rolled up on one elbow the better to see his face. "Me?"

Luke was looking anywhere other than in those green eyes. "I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to. That lovely blush you've got going says it all." A smile was curving her lips. "So, you still think about me."

Luke made a desperate grab for the liquor bottle she was holding, but she yanked it out of his reach. "I don't think so, Commander. I want to hear more about these thoughts."

He eyed her where she lay across from him, bathed in the warm light of the fire. Her lips were still curved in a challenging smile and her eyes were dancing. Desire flared through him suddenly, like a star going nova, aided by the liquor that was flaming through his veins and making him lightheaded. The arousal was instant and nearly brutal in its intensity, as if all of his desire and want had been locked up behind a gate and it had only needed those words to release it.

Something of what he was feeling must have shown on his face, because her smile slowly faded.

"Leave it alone, Aurora." Luke said, suddenly serious, and even he could hear how husky his voice had gotten. "Don't start something that we might not be able to finish."

Aurora's lips were parted and her eyes had darkened as she stared at him, but she didn't say a word.

After a moment, she turned away from him, setting the bottle behind her. "I think we've probably had enough of this. Time to get some sleep."

Luke was grateful when she moved away to bank the fire, dimming the light in the small hut. Because although he was infinitely grateful that she had heeded his words and not pushed things, he couldn't ignore the shaft of disappoint that had shot through him when she had turned away. For all his words of wisdom about not stirring things up, his hands were still shaking with the desire to touch her.

With muttered words of goodnight, they each lay down in their blankets, careful to keep several feet of space between them.

Aurora deliberately lay with her back to Luke. She needed that small measure of privacy to try and get her self under control. Because for all of Luke's words of caution and restraint, for one moment there, he'd looked at her like he could have eaten her whole. And the memory of that look on his face had the blood nearly singing in her veins. Although that wasn't really what had her grabbing for control, after all, she'd had lots and lots of practice at ignoring the physical arousal Luke could cause with no more than a glance out of those blue eyes. No, it was the fact that _he_ had obviously been fighting to control his own desire. And if that was the case, if he still wanted her, had in fact been thinking about her, as evidenced by his own words, then maybe that night on Tattooine hadn't been just sex for him either. And _that_ possibility opened up a whole galaxy of thoughts.

Aurora was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't even notice that Luke, lying behind her, was still awake as well.

It was a long time before either of their breathing evened out into that of sleep.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the _Star Wars _franchise and am not making any profit from this.

The next morning they were both a little subdued, moving quietly around the clearing as they, in unspoken agreement, restored the small hut to its original condition and packed up. Aurora, glancing surreptitiously at where Luke was repacking the thermal blankets in the X-Wing's storage compartment, sighed disconsolately. She'd really messed up last night. She never should have made that comment about him thinking about her. Now things were back to that stiff, awkward tenseness that had existed between the two of them right after Tatooine. She'd been joking, partly, but she had to admit, she'd also been flirting. She couldn't help it, despite their agreement in the cabin of the _Falcon._ And maybe that was part of the problem. Did Luke dislike her need to push things? After all, while back on Hoth he'd been the aggressor, he'd backed way off since then and that night on Tatooine had been mostly her doing. Maybe, despite what she'd thought last night, he just wasn't interested in her that way anymore.

She bit her lip in indecision, but didn't say anything.

Luke, for his part, was busily chastising himself for overreacting last night. _She was only teasing, you idiot_, he told himself. _But you had to go and get all serious and intense. She probably thinks you're the stuffiest boor that's ever lived._

He groaned silently. The problem was, he _was_ a complete idiot when Aurora was around. He had so many conflicting thoughts and emotions regarding her, that half the time he wanted to grab hold of her and never let go, and the other half he wanted to get away from her as fast as he could before she destroyed his already precarious self-control. He glanced over at her remote profile. Not that that seemed likely to be a problem anymore. After his little outburst last night, she seemed determined to keep her distance, physically and verbally. They'd only exchanged a few words so far this morning, but even then her tone had been disappointingly stiff.

Force, he wasn't just an idiot, he was also fickle. For some time now he'd been blathering on in his own head that it was better if they kept their relationship purely platonic, how he didn't want to burden her with his problems with his father, that the Jedi code forbade attachment, but all the while he'd been secretly enjoying the way he'd catch her watching him or the way color would sometimes climb her cheeks when they accidently touched. He'd especially enjoyed the way she would sometimes flirtatiously tease him before she seemingly caught herself. He'd been passively letting her maintain a thread of a romantic relationship between the two of them, all the while soothing his conscience by telling himself they were better off as friends.

He was a kriffing hypocritical fool.

_RoJ_

With each of them preoccupied with their own thoughts, the journey back to _Home One_ didn't seem to take as long as usual, and it seemed only a short time later that the two X-wings were landing in one of the bays.

Several techs came over immediately to help shut the ships down and unload the astromechs.

Luke left his helmet on his seat and dropped down the ladder with the ease of long practice.

He glanced around at the strangely deserted bay. "Where is everybody anyway?"

The tech hooking up the refueling tube looked at the chronometer on the wall. "Probably on their way to the big meeting."

"What big meeting?" Aurora asked, coming around the nose of the ship.

"Brass called one in Conference room Aurek. Looks like they're planning a big assault."

"What's the target?" Luke said, frowning.

"Don't know, but the rumor mill says it's something big." The tech shrugged, as if seemingly unconcerned.

Despite their current difficulties, Luke and Aurora exchanged a worried glance.

"We'd better dump our stuff and get up there." She suggested.

"Or better yet, just have somebody else take our stuff to our quarters." Luke raised an eyebrow at the tech, who let out a long suffering sigh, then winked. "Sure thing, Commander. I'll have somebody run it up for you. You two get moving."

_RoJ_

General Riekkan was trying to walk in a manner that combined dignity with the need to hurry to the meeting for which he was already late when he saw the two people he had just been thinking about turn into the corridor in front of him. "Commander Skywalker, Commander Kenobi."

As one, they both looked back over their shoulders and then, seeing him, stopped to salute. "General Riekkan."

"I'm glad to see that you made it back in time." He said, motioning for them to resume walking. "We're going to need you."

"Yes, sir." Luke replied. "What exactly is going on?"

Riekken sighed. "We decoded the information that you and those Bothans helped retrieve and it appears that the Emperor has built another Death Star."

"You have got to be kidding me!" Aurora blurted out, then remembering who she was speaking to, hastily added a sir.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Riekken smiled. "Unfortunately, Commander, I'm not."

Luke frowned. "Why would he build another one when the first one failed so dismally?"

"Who knows? I would assume he's fixed the weakness of the exhaust port in this one. Or at least plans to. Fortunately for us, this second Death Star isn't finished yet, which is a bonus. We need to get to it before the weapons become functional." Riekken glanced at them. "Another bonus is that one of our agents has verified that both Vader and the Emperor are on board right now. If we strike now we may get them both."

Riekken had taken several more steps before he realized that both of his companions had come to a sudden stop in the middle of the hall. He turned back to see what the problem was.

Luke's face had paled. "Vader's on board the Death Star?"

"Yes." The older man confirmed, frowning as he looked from one intense face to the other. "Is that a problem?"

He watched as the two of them exchanged a long look. There was a long moment in which they seemed to be communicating something to each other and then Luke sighed and shook his head. "I think we need to talk to you about something important."

"More important than a pending attack on a new Death Star?" Riekken asked, his brows shooting up.

"Yes." Aurora said. "Potentially."

If it had been anyone else, Riekken might have blown it off, at least until after the meeting, but he had never known either of these two to exaggerate the seriousness of something. He nodded and turned back the way they had come. "Let's go to my office where we can talk in privacy."

Once they were all seated with the door closed and locked, the general looked at them expectantly. "Well?"

Luke took a deep breath. This wasn't going to be easy to try to explain without going into all the details. "We've been given certain, I guess you could say, orders."

"Orders? By whom?"

"Our masters."

"Jedi masters?" Riekken asked in surprise. "Who? I thought they were all dead."

The two young Jedis exchanged another look and once again, Riekken got the impression that they were having some kind of silent conversation. Whatever it was, they must have come to an agreement because they looked back at him.

"Master Yoda." Aurora said carefully.

Riekken's eyes widened in disbelief. "But – he was the Grand Master of the Jedi Council in the Old Republic. I thought he had been killed years ago."

"No," Luke said softly. "He escaped, but he had to hide to avoid the Emperor's agents."

"Why didn't he come forward when the Alliance formed?"

"For the same reason that my father didn't." Aurora replied. "They had one goal in mind– stopping Vader and, ultimately, the Emperor. And to do that, they needed to be available to train new Jedi."

"So he's been in hiding for years, just hoping some potential Force users would come along." Riekken couldn't hide the note of disapproval in his voice. He only knew of Master Yoda or General Kenobi by reputation, but from what he had heard, the Alliance could have really used either of them.

But Aurora was shaking her head. "No, General, it wasn't that arbitrary. My father spent eighteen years as a hermit on Tatooine for one reason and one reason only: He was there to protect Luke. He was the one who brought him there, and he knew that one day he'd have the potential to face Vader and the Emperor. Master Yoda remained in hiding for the same reason, the hope that one day my father would bring Luke to him for training."

"And you?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. My mother fled Coruscant after the Emperor took over while she was still pregnant with me. My father had no way of knowing if I was even alive, so I doubt very much if I actually entered into their considerations."

Riekken saw Luke shift slightly in his seat and wondered if this was a sore point between the two of them, that Obi Wan Kenobi had basically abandoned his own child in order to watch over someone else's son.

"So, that's where you've been, training with Master Yoda?" He said now.

They both nodded.

"And this is where your 'orders' come into play?"

"Yes." Aurora answered.

Riekken studied both of their faces for a minute. Although they were both quite skilled at concealing their thoughts, there was a certain grimness visible that wasn't normally there. "They're sending you after Vader and the Emperor, aren't they?"

"Yes." Luke said simply.

The general sank back into his chair, his thoughts whirling. His initial reaction, to his credit, was one of dismay. They were both still so young! And they were being sent after not just one, but the two most dangerous beings in the entire galaxy. But he had to admit, that regardless of their lack of years and experience, both Luke and Aurora had performed their duties with the Alliance beyond all expectations. Young they might be, but they were highly skilled. He also had to remind himself that these weren't two ordinary young people sitting in front of him; they were both Jedi knights, and apparently trained personally by the former Grand Master of the Jedi Order.

This led to his second reaction: With Luke and Aurora available to distract both Vader and the Emperor, the attack on the Death Star would have an even better chance of success. The strategist in him started considering various scenarios immediately.

He steepled his fingers in front of him and considered his audience.

"You want permission to go after them, don't you?"

Luke glanced at Aurora quickly. "Well, it would make it easier."

"Would it make a difference if I said no?"

"Unfortunately, no." Luke replied. "I'm sorry."

Aurora spoke up. "And it would probably be best if Wedge remained in charge of Rogue Squadron for the attack."

Luke opened his mouth, as if to say something, then closed it again, as if having thought better of whatever he had been going to say.

Riekken raised his brows, but when Luke didn't say anything, he continued with his questioning. "What, exactly, is your plan for reaching them?"

"I don't know yet." Luke said. "I'll need more information about the attack on the Death Star."

Riekken considered them again. "I might have an idea that will work."


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the _Star Wars _franchise and am not making any profit from this.

Leia glanced around the crowded, noisy room with grim satisfaction. For this critical assault, the Alliance had raised a lot of support and there were more beings crowded into the large conference room then it had, perhaps, been designed to hold. She spotted a group of Mon Calamari gathered near the viewports – officers judging by their uniforms – going over something on a datapad with Admiral Ackbar. Last minute intel, perhaps.

Behind her, there was a burst of loud laughter where a group of orange-clad pilots were huddled. A small smile crossed her face. She highly doubted the rowdy pilots were discussing strategy. Probably telling raunchy and highly inappropriate jokes.

Catching her eye, Wedge Antilles came down several rows to sit behind her.

"Princess Leia."

"Wedge." She smiled at him.

The Corellian pilot looked around the room. "Quite a group here."

"Yes, I was just thinking that."

"Any chance Luke and Aurora are going to make it back in time?"

Leia felt a pang. "I don't know. I don't know exactly where they are; neither of them said, but Luke did say they'd try to make it back in time."

Wedge nodded.

"Worried about leading Rogue Squadron in the assault?" She asked gently.

Wedge snorted. "How 'bout just worried about leading Rogue Squadron in general? It's no wonder Luke keeps taking off on these little jaunts – he's desperate to get away from these idiots."

Leia laughed. "Well, I think he'd deny that was the _only_ motivation."

Wedge grinned wickedly. "Considering he keeps taking off alone with Aurora, you might have something there."

Leia kept the smile on her face through sheer will power. "So," She asked casually. "You think there's something going on between them?"

"You don't?"

"I guess I've never given it much thought."

"Trust me, I have, and I'd put credits on it…if I had any." A sudden burst of especially loud laughter behind him made Wedge turn his head and then stand up. "Oops. I'd better get back up there and try to implement some sort of control or who knows what they'll get up to. Good talking to you, Princess. Bunch of overgrown adolescents." He growled under his breath as he left.

"You too." She said absently, her thoughts still on what Wedge had said. She didn't know why the comment had unsettled her. It certainly wasn't the first time the thought had crossed her mind; after all, you'd have had to be blind and stupid not to see the moony way Luke used to watch Aurora after Yavin. Or the soft smiles that she only seemed to have for him. But that was several years ago now, and their relationship had tempered into a close friendship. She'd really thought they'd both gotten over their little crushes. Oh, every once in a while, you could still catch one of them watching the other with a little more heat than was probably normal in a platonic friendship, but neither seemed inclined to ever act on it. Then again, there was the odd way the two of them had been acting around each other lately. She'd noticed it shortly after the disaster at Xizor's.

Had she been missing something all along? And how did she feel about that?

Leia frowned. She wasn't jealous. She wasn't, because she simply didn't feel that way about Luke.

But she was…vaguely uncomfortable with the idea of Luke and Aurora together. Maybe it was still the unanswered questions about Aurora's motives. She was _almost_ positive at this point that Aurora didn't mean them any harm, but whatever secret the other woman was guarding continued to nag at Leia and kept her from trusting explicitly.

A familiar voice interrupted her train of thought.

"Working the room, Princess?" Han's shoulder bumped hers as he dropped into the seat between her and Chewie.

"Just looking around." She replied, turning to give him a smile. "Where have you been? Chewie and I have been waiting for almost twenty minutes."

Han looked shifty for a minute. "Nowhere. I just – I was talking to somebody."

Leia raised one delicate brow. "Who?"

"Nobody special." He looked away. "Hey, where's Rieeken? Isn't he in charge?"

Leia and Chewie exchanged dubious glances at his blatant attempt to change the subject. Han was obviously up to something and just as obviously wasn't willing to discuss it. She'd let it go…for now.

"Carlist should be here shortly, but he's not in charge. Admiral Ackbar is." She nodded towards the tall, salmon-colored Mon Calamari officer.

"Ackbar, huh?" Han studied him. "I heard he's some kind of tactical genius."

"He is. We're very lucky to have him."

Chewie leaned around Han to growl a question.

"He wants to know who the short guy next to Ackbar is, with the beard and the funky haircut."

Leia jabbed him lightly with her elbow. "That's General Madine…and Chewie did not say funky haircut."

Han shrugged. "It was implied." He was watching the bearded general. "So that's Crix Madine."

"You know him?"

"I've heard of him. When I was at the academy. I never served under him or anything, but I heard he was good. A bit of a tightass, but good."

Leia was amazed. Han very rarely ever mentioned his time in the Imperial Academy or the few months he had served in active service before being dishonorably discharged for rescuing and releasing a ship full of Wookiee slaves, Chewie included. His time in the carbonite seemed to have really affected him. She wanted to explore this opening he had given her, delve into his feelings and emotions and see how far he would open up, but Lando appeared, moving through the crowd towards them.

Han reached out and tapped the small insignia fastened to Lando's chest.

"Well, look at you – a general, huh?"

Lando smiled deprecatingly. "Oh, well, someone must have told them about my little maneuver at the battle of Tanaab."

"Well, don't look at me, pal." Han snickered. "I just said you were a fair pilot. I didn't know they were looking for somebody to lead this crazy attack."

Lando smoothed his mustache with one finger, half concealing his amused smile. "I'm surprised they didn't ask you to do it."

Han leaned back, casually draping his arm around Leia's shoulders. "Well, who says they didn't? But I ain't crazy. You're the respectable one, remember?"

Lando laughed just as a small chime rang out, silencing the room, and a slender woman dressed in flowing white stepped up to the podium.

The room fell silent as Mon Mothma began to speak.

"The Emperor has made a critical error and the time for our attack has come."

A low murmur rose around the room.

The leader of the Alliance gestured to a holographic model hovering next to her. Glimmering green against the low lights of the room, the hologram depicted the half-built Death Star with a small moon or planetoid floating next to it and some kind of shield enclosing them both.

"The data brought to us by the Bothan spies pinpoints the exact location of the Emperor's new battle station. We also know that the weapon systems of this Death Star are not yet operational. With the Imperial Fleet spread throughout the galaxy in a vain effort to engage us, it is relatively unprotected." She paused for a moment and then continued. "But most important of all, we've learned that the Emperor himself is personally overseeing the final stages of the construction of this Death Star."

The room erupted in excited chatter, many unable to believe their luck. Even Han looked somewhat amazed as he exchanged glances with Leia and Chewie barked his surprise.

Mon Mothma continued quietly, instantly silencing the room as her gaze seemed to meet the eyes of every being in the room. "Many Bothans died to bring us this information."

There was another short pause as she let the import of her words sink into the silence, then she gestured to the tall Mon Calamari standing next to her. "Admiral Ackbar, please."

Acbar nodded at her and then stepped up to the podium, gesturing to the hologram with one webbed hand. "You can see here the Death Star orbiting the forest moon of Endor. Although the weapon systems on this Death Star are not yet operational, the Death Star does have a strong defense mechanism. It is protected by an energy shield, which is generated from the nearby forest moon of Endor. The shield must be deactivated if any attack is to be attempted." His large eyes rolled in a Mon Cal gesture of emphasis. "Once the shield is down, our cruisers will create a perimeter, while the fighters fly into the superstructure and attempt to knock out the main reactor."

Once more a murmur rose throughout the room. Leia heard Wes Janson's voice come from behind her.

"Did he say fly _into_ that thing?"

Ackbar continued as if nothing was wrong. "General Calrissian has volunteered to lead the fighter attack."

Han glanced at his old friend. "Good luck."

Lando nodded appreciatively, a look that quickly changed to mild offense when Han added dryly, "You're gonna need it."

At the front of the room, Ackbar was gesturing to the officer Han had been watching earlier. "General Madine."

The bearded general nodded genially and took over the briefing. "We have stolen a small Imperial shuttle. Disguised as a cargo ship, and using a secret Imperial code, a strike team will land on the moon and deactivate the shield generator."

He paused as for the third time, the room erupted in excited whispers.

"That sounds quite dangerous." Threepio said anxiously from where he stood next to Leia's seat.

Leia had to agree. It _would _be dangerous. The shield generator was bound to be heavily defended. "I wonder who they found to pull that off?" She murmured to Han.

She had only a second to wonder why Han looked so guilty before Madine was speaking again.

"General Solo, is your strike team assembled?"

Leia's eyes widened in stunned surprise. _General_?

Next to her, Han squirmed slightly. "Uh, my team's ready. I don't have a command crew for the shuttle."

Chewbacca roared and raised one hairy paw.

Han looked up at him. "Well, it's gonna be rough, pal. I didn't want to speak for you."

Chewie waved that off dismissively and once again growled his assent.

Han couldn't quite keep the smile off his face, though he tried. "That's one."

"General." Leia grabbed his arm, trying to conceal the elated glee swarming through her. _General_! Madine had called Han general, which meant he had officially accepted a commission. He was committed; he was staying! "Count me in."

Han opened his mouth, probably to argue with her – not that it would do any good – but a familiar voice suddenly called from the back of the room. "We're with you too."

The room erupted for the last time into excited shouts and cheers at the sight of Luke and Aurora standing in the doorway.

Standing silently off to the side, Mon Mothma, currently the head of the Rebel Alliance, watched as many in the room surged forward to greet Luke Skywalker and Aurora Kenobi. She was a little surprised by the strength of emotion that had risen with their appearance. There was a new enthusiasm running through the room now, and it was centered directly on the pair in the doorway. She took a moment to study them, unobserved for the moment,

Mon wasn't really certain why she was so surprised; despite all of the Emperor's efforts, there were many, like her, who still remembered the Jedi of the Old Republic and how they had been revered. As a member of the Senate, she had worked closely with many Jedi, including Obi Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, so she was very aware of the way that the public often responded to them. So why then, was she surprised at the effect these two had on the room?

Perhaps it was because they were both so young still; in the days of the Old Republic they would have been Padawans, still accompanied by their master. Although, she conceded, watching Luke's face, she had noticed recently that Commander Skywalker seemed to have lost that dewy-eyed innocence he'd left Tatooine with. He was more serious these days; less apt to laugh. Commander Kenobi too seemed to have developed a more somber mien.

She sighed internally. But then who hadn't? These were dark days for the galaxy and very few involved in the war maintained any aura of innocence for long. Still, with the appearance of the two young Jedi, there was a new emotion running through the room, one she hesitantly identified as…hope.

Leia, as she turned to see the newcomers at the door, like Mon Mothma, was struck by the aura of power and competence swirling around both Luke and Aurora. For a moment she hesitated, suddenly not seeing her friends, but the galaxy's only remaining Jedi and for the first time really understanding what that meant. But the moment passed as Luke smiled at her and she moved forward to greet him, embracing him warmly.

Luke returned her hug tightly. There was an odd look on his face when he pulled away.

"What is it?" She asked, concerned.

But Luke shook his head, smiling. "Ask me again sometime."

Han, not liking the intimacy of the hug or the whispered conversation, suddenly appeared at Leia's elbow. "Luke." His tone was slightly guarded.

The younger man smiled, a whisper of amusement coloring his voice. "Hi, Han. Chewie."

The Wookie roared, grabbing first Luke and then Aurora and yanking them into a smothering embrace.

"So much for dignity." Aurora muttered, spitting Wookie hair out of her mouth. "Okay, okay, Chewie. I'm glad to see you too, but I kind of need my ribs intact."

The Wookie howled his joy again, but he released them.

Lando laughed as he moved forward to shake Luke's hand. "It took you two long enough. We were beginning to think you had run off for good. Not that I'd blame you," He added with a significant look to where Aurora was now being embraced by what looked like most of Rogue Squadron. "You'd have plenty of incentive."

He knew Lando was trying to bait him into a reaction, but Luke just smiled. "Leia would have hunted us down like a rabid kath hound if we hadn't shown up."

Lando grinned. "True." He clapped Luke on the shoulder. "But I bet it damn well would have been worth it."

Luke, watching Aurora trying to avoid being hugged by Wes and Hobbie at the same time, looked somber, his thoughts drifting to how the hell he was ever going to convince her to stay with Rogue Squadron and let him confront Vader alone.

From where they stood off to the side, avoiding the exuberance of the organics, Artoo rocked from side to side, whistling his own enthusiasm for the coming fight.

Threepio, however, looked as concerned as a droid could. " 'Exciting' is hardly the word I would use."


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the _Star Wars _franchise and am not making any profit from this.

Han found Luke sitting in the pilot's lounge. He was ostensibly reading over a report that Wedge had handed him, but by the way his eyes kept straying over to where Aurora was sitting with the Rogues, it was pretty clear that his mind was not on the flimsiplast in his hand or the automemo that he was supposed to be taking notes on.

Han dropped into the seat next to him, propping his feet up on the edge of the table.

"Interesting report?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah." Luke replied, hastily dropping his eyes back down to the printout.

"Yeah? What's it about?"

"Uh –"

Han grinned. "Bet you'd be more interested in it if it had a pair of big green eyes."

Luke snorted and shoved the report away. "Right."

"Soooo," Han drew the word out. "What's up with you and Aurora?"

He'd expected the kid to turn red and get flustered, but Luke simply raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Aw, come on. The long glances, the awkward silences, those quick retreats when you inadvertently touch." Han nudged him in the ribs with his elbow. "I've been around, kid. I've seen it all before and I know what it means." He waited a beat, watching Luke's face. "You slept with her."

Once again, the kid surprised him as an amused smile quirked his mouth. "You're behind the times, Han. According to the latest gossip, not only have we been having an affair for years, we're secretly married and she's pregnant with twins." His smile broadened. "Aurora finds it all very funny, except for the pregnancy thing. I think she got a little ticked that people were implying that she's put on weight."

Han snorted. "I'm not talking about whatever load of bantha poodoo the Alliance version of the holorags has come up with about the two of you. I'm talking about my own close personal observations of the two of you, and those tell me that the two of you had sex."

Luke stood up, gathering his things. "Your own close personal observations, huh? I won't even go into how creepy that sounds. See you, Han." He clapped the other man on the shoulder and walked away.

Han's eyes narrowed as he watched Luke head out of the lounge. "Don't think I didn't notice that you never denied it, kid." He muttered to himself, watching as Aurora's head turned to follow Luke as he left the room, a frown on her face.

_RoJ_

Luke kept his stride even until he was out of sight of the room, then allowed his shoulders to slump. He'd been sitting there for Force knows how long, ostensibly reading that report on Rogue Squadron's latest stats, when actually he'd been trying to make up his mind to approach Aurora. And not for the reasons that Han clearly thought, although he made a mental note that he needed to be a lot more circumspect in the way he interacted with his XO if even Han could pick up on it. The last thing he needed was for the Rogues to figure out what had happened. He and Aurora would never hear the end of it.

No, his current predicament involved how exactly he was going to convince Aurora to stay behind when they left on their mission, because the last thing he wanted was for her to come anywhere near the Emperor. He still felt an icy chill whenever he thought about Ben's words regarding what Palpatine had planned for her. Aurora might have shrugged it off, but he hadn't.

Better by far if he confronted Vader alone. That way, if he was wrong about his father, if he failed in the mission he had set himself, then Aurora would still be safe, and that was enough of a victory for him.

But how in the galaxy was he going to convince her of all this? Because if he even touched on the concept of protecting her, all hell was going to break loose. They'd already had this fight once on the _Falcon_ after their escape from Xizor's palace and she hadn't been happy then, but that was nothing to what her response would be if she realized that he didn't want her to come with him because there was an even chance that he wouldn't be coming back at all.

Luke groaned in frustration and ran his hands through his hair.

Why was it that confronting Vader was starting to look like the easy part of this mission?

_RoJ_

Han lay back against the pillows, his head resting in his arms as he watched Leia move around the room, neatly putting away her belongings.

She'd been idly chattering away about different, inconsequential things, but her mind was obviously somewhere else and Han had a pretty good idea where.

He had been responding with an occasional grunt as he watched her, patiently waiting for her to run down so that he could broach the subject he was interested in.

When she eventually mentioned Luke and Aurora's return, he seized his chance.

"So, are you finally going to tell me what's going on with you and Aurora?"

Leia's hands, which had been in the process of taking down her hair, stilled. "What are you talking about?"

"Come on, Your Highnessness, I ain't blind anymore. The two of you have been like two Camassi diplomats arguing over a treaty – all polite and distant. If you get any stiffer, we're liable to mistake you for Goldenrod."

Leia threw him a dirty look over her shoulder. "Not funny." She turned back to the mirror, her hands once more resuming their task. "There's nothing going on. We just had a bit of …an argument."

"About?" Han persisted. He was pretty sure he knew, but he wanted to hear her say it.

Leia sighed and once more her hands dropped from her hair. "It's not a big deal, I guess. It's just…" Her reflection in the mirror looked indecisive for a minute and then she spun to face him. "Han, what do you remember Lando saying on Bespin, about the trap?"

"Huh?" He said, his hands falling away in surprise. That hadn't been at all what he'd expected her to say.

"When we were on Bespin and Lando told us it was a trap. Do you remember exactly what he said?"

Han was still trying to switch gears. He'd been pretty damn sure that Leia had been feeling jealous over Luke. After all, it hadn't taken very long after seeing the two of them together, to realize that something between Luke and Aurora had changed, or to figure out what that change probably was, despite the kid keeping mum on the subject. So he'd been positive that that's what had Leia all uptight around the other woman. He'd known for a long time that she had strong feelings about Luke, and although the idea caused his stomach to twist in jealousy and anger, he was trying to be mature about it and let her work out her feelings for herself. Even if it was killing him.

But now she'd gone and thrown a hydrospanner in the works, because he had no idea what she was talking about.

Leia narrowed her eyes, obviously getting impatient for him to answer, so he forced himself to abandon his previous line of thought and try to remember the conversation in the cell on Bespin.

He hadn't really been at his best; just back from his so-called interrogation at the hands of Vader's stormtroopers.

He had been lying on the hard slab of the platform, everything aching. Leia had been stroking his hair.

"_Why are they doing this?"_

"_They never even asked me any questions." Han muttered._

Then Lando had come in, and Han had done his best to sit up and look formidable, even though the idea of him being able to fight off anything stronger than a mouse droid was laughable.

"_Vader wants us all dead." Leia spat at Lando._

"_He doesn't want you at all. He's after somebody called Skywalker."_

"_Luke?" Han asked, confused._

"_Lord Vader has set a trap for him."_

"_And we're the bait." Leia concluded bitterly._

"He said Vader had set a trap for Luke." Han replied now.

"Don't you find that rather odd? That he was just after Luke?" Leia said, her gaze intent.

Han snorted. "Sure, really odd that he would want to find the guy who blew up the Death Star, commands the most annoying fighter squadron in the galaxy, is currently ranked as Number One on the Empire's Most Wanted list, and happens to believe he's a Jedi Knight. Can't imagine what he would want Luke for at all."

"Then why isn't he remotely interested in the _other_ pilot who blew up the Death Star, serves as the XO for that same annoying squadron, is currently ranked Number Two on that list, and also believes she is a Jedi Knight?"

"What?" Han asked.

"Lando said the trap was for Luke, not Aurora. Vader wanted Luke. Nobody ever mentioned Aurora. Why? Wouldn't she be just as much of a threat? Wouldn't the Emperor be interested in capturing her too?"

"I don't know." Han said, "Who knows how Palpatine's mind works? The guy's obviously – wait a minute!" He sat up, all pretense of casualness gone. "You suspect Aurora of being – what? A spy?"

Leia looked mutinous. "I don't know. But she's hiding something."

"How do you know that?"

"I asked her."

"You asked her." Han's voice was flat with disbelief. "And what did she say?"

"She admitted it." At the dubious look Han gave her, Leia sighed in exasperation. "She told me that she wasn't telling me everything that she knew because it wasn't hers to tell."

"Well, then - "

"That's not all." Leia interrupted. "We told you that we escaped from Xizor's ships because the Imperial navy came in and took them out. Afterward, on the _Falcon_, I was wondering why Vader would come to our assistance and Aurora admitted that she had contacted him and asked for help."

Han frowned. "Did she say why?"

"Just that she knew we were going to need help getting out of there."

"She never explained why she thought Vader would help?" Han asked.

"No."

Han looked skeptical again and Leia relented. "She might have to Luke, but he dragged her off to one of the cabins before she could say anything else. They got into a huge fight. We could hear them yelling even through a closed door."

"And they never said what it was about?"

"No. I confronted Aurora but she flat out refused to say a word."

"But you think she told Luke?"

"He must know something. Why else go off to argue in private?"

Han could actually think of a pretty good reason why the two of them would want to have a conversation in private, and it had nothing to do with the Empire, but he wasn't about to point that out to Leia. He wasn't that dumb. It also seemed pretty clear to him that if Aurora was covering up something for someone else, then it had to be for Luke. But clearly Leia hadn't made that connection yet.

"Well, then, you have to ask yourself: do you trust Luke?"

Leia looked nonplussed. "Of course."

"Of course." Han repeated bitterly. The idea of not trusting _Luke _had probably never entered her mind. But now wasn't the time. He took a deep breath. "Well, if you think he knows what's going on, then you have to trust him that he's not concealing anything dangerous."

Leia's finely arched brows drew together. "I trust _Luke_, but I'm not sure I trust his judgment where Aurora is concerned. He's not exactly an impartial witness."

Han snorted slightly in amusement. Understatement of the year.


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the _Star Wars _franchise and am not making any profit from this.

It was several more days before Luke was able to catch Aurora alone. They'd both been run ragged: getting Rogue Squadron prepared for the invasion, coordinating the commandos that were going down to the surface of the moon with them, briefing Rieeken on what they could, and always in the company of others. But now she was sitting in the mess at a table in the corner, a tray of food in front of her being mostly ignored while she studied the datapad in front of her, making an occasional note.

He got some food of his own and crossed the room.

"Mind if I join you?"

She looked up, the frown that crossed her face disappearing when she realized who it was. "Since when do you need to ask?"

He shrugged as he sat down. "I thought you might want some alone time."

Aurora snorted. "I don't think that concept exists in the Alliance."

"Probably not." He toyed with his food a little, stalling. He'd been wanting to bring this up with her for a while, but he wasn't looking forward to it. She was going to be angry, no doubt about that and it was likely to get ugly. Maybe this wasn't the best venue to have this discussion after all….

A slim hand came into his view, grabbing his fork and holding it still.

"Why don't you stop torturing that poor food and tell me what's on your mind?"

Luke frowned in confusion before he focused on his tray and realized that he had mashed and mangled everything on his plate into one large multicolored blob. He made a face and pushed the tray away from him, disgusted more with himself then the unappetizing sight of the food.

"Uh oh," She said. "It must be really bad if it's put even you off food."

He sighed and shoved his hand through his hair. "Look, we need to talk."

"Okay," Aurora replied, watching him carefully.

"Not here." He glanced around the mess at the other diners. "Somewhere private."

Her eyebrows shot up, but she didn't say anything, just pushed her chair back and stood up.

Luke followed suit, pausing to grab his tray and dump it on the refuse chute as they made their way out of the mess hall.

"Where to?" Aurora asked.

"My office."

"Fine."

They made their way through the corridors in silence. Luke didn't know what Aurora was thinking, but he was trying to find the right words to use that would persuade her to do what he wanted, all the time knowing it was likely hopeless.

They reached Luke's office only to find it the epicenter of an impromptu and noisy sabaac game.

By mutual consent they ducked back out, hopefully before any of the Rogues realized they were there.

After a few seconds, Luke remembered the empty storage room where they generally practiced sparring with their lightsabers and they headed there.

When the door closed behind them, the click sounded rather ominous in the still, recycled air. Luke carefully locked it, not wanting to be disturbed. He kept his back to Aurora for a minute, still trying to get his words in order.

Behind him, he heard her shift impatiently. "Luke, what is this all about?"

Unable to turn and face her, he addressed his words to the dull grey door, trying to get it out quickly before he lost his nerve. "I don't think you should come to Endor with me."

There was a rather loud silence behind him and he winced.

When she finally spoke, her voice was studiously calm. "Why?"

He spun abruptly to face her. "You know why."

"Do I?"

Nerves edged into annoyance. "Are you really going to make me say this aloud?"

She crossed her arms defiantly. "Yes, I really am. If this is so important to you, then you shouldn't have any problem laying it all out. So, let's hear it."

Irritating woman. Here he was trying to keep her safe and she wanted to play dominance games in an empty storage room.

"Fine." He scowled and ran his hand through his hair. "I don't want you to come because I don't want you anywhere near Vader and the Emperor. It's too dangerous." He said it flatly, no emotion touching his voice or face.

But, just as he'd known she would, Aurora flared up at his word choice, her arms uncrossing to fist at her sides. "Well, if it's going to be _dangerous_, then by all means, I'd better stay here where it will be safe, because the Force knows I've never faced anything _dangerous_ before. We wouldn't want the little woman to get hurt now, would we? You'll just go handle it all yourself."

"Stop it. That's not what I meant and you know it." Luke snapped, stepping towards her.

"It certainly sounds like it. In fact, it sounds a lot like the last conversation that we had regarding this situation and I'm pretty sure that I made my feelings plain then. But just in case there are any doubts, let me clarify: No. No, I will not stay here. No, I do not need you to try and protect me. And no, I will not allow you to face Vader alone." She smiled viciously. "Is that clear enough for you?"

"Perfectly." Luke replied through gritted teeth, only inches away from her. "So how about I make it an order?"

Aurora drew up in shock. Luke never pulled rank on her, never. Although they both held the rank of commander, something extremely unusual within the same squadron, he did technically outrank her as he was the squadron commander. But he never made an issue of it, making requests rather than issuing orders. And when they disagreed about something, they discussed it, working it out together and compromising rather than Luke making any unilateral decisions. Which was why she was so thrown now.

"You can't." She said finally. "This isn't squadron business."

"Maybe." Luke conceded. "But who says Rieeken will see it that way?"

Aurora bit her lip, extremely annoyed that he suddenly had the upper hand. "You'd actually do that? Take this to command?"

Luke laughed harshly. "You just don't get it, do you? I'd do that and far worse if it meant keeping you away from the Emperor. I'd do _anything_."

She shivered at the intensity in his voice, but she met his eyes squarely. "And you just don't get it: I'd do _anything_ to keep you from facing him alone, so it appears we're at an impasse."

They stared at each other for several moments, neither willing to back down.

"You do what you need to do, Luke, and I'll do the same." Aurora finally said quietly, moving past him to the door.

Luke's thoughts spun desperately. It wasn't that he'd been bluffing. He was more than willing to take this to Rieeken, but he wasn't entirely certain that Aurora wasn't right. This was outside of Alliance business, and Rieeken might not be willing to issue any orders or might not see it the same way he did and might rule in Aurora's favor. He needed to come up with something else and fast.

A sudden idea came to him, one born of desperation and fear and frustration. She'd said to do what he needed to do, well this was the best he could come up with…

Aurora stopped as a sudden familiar snap-hiss sounded behind her and green-white light suddenly reflected off the walls and floor.

She turned slowly to see Luke standing there, his lightsaber ignited in his hand and a dangerous smile on his lips. "One fight, no holds barred. You win, I'll leave it alone and not mention it again and I won't go to Rieeken. But if _I _win, you stay here."

She paused, thinking hard. This was one serious sabaac pot and it required careful consideration. On the one hand, there was absolutely no way that she was going to allow Luke to face Vader and the Emperor alone, no matter how dangerous he thought it was for her, because that just meant that it was twice as dangerous for him. On the other hand, Luke fighting her on this could mean a lot of trouble, especially if he went to Rieeken with it. Although they both tended to ignore it most of the time, Luke technically did outrank her and it was conceivable that the general would see the situation in that light. There was also the consideration that Rieeken might not want to take a chance on losing both of the Alliance's Jedi and would see this as a solution. Send Luke alone and keep her here. So agreeing to this fight would prevent that possibility, since once Luke gave his word, there was no way he would go back on it. And truthfully, she was better than him with a lightsaber. Not that Luke was bad or that she was outrageously better, but she generally won two out of three times when they sparred. Part of that might have been because Luke had a tendency to hold back a little, for fear of hurting her, that overprotective streak coming to the fore, while she had no such qualms. She knew he could take care of himself. And that right there might be another reason to accept his offer. He'd said no holds barred, but she knew Luke, and he liked to play fair, whereas she, growing up in areas of the galaxy where survival came first, last and always, didn't mind playing dirty, especially when the stakes were this high.

Luke watched Aurora mull over his offer, obviously working through the pros and cons. He kept that small smile on his face, but inside he was desperately willing her to accept. He'd known asking her to stay behind wouldn't work, but he'd tried anyway. He'd even been willing to beg her if necessary, but it would have been pointless. She was adamant on going with him, to protect him, and that was the absolute last thing that he wanted. This was his last, desperate chance to keep her away from the Emperor and Vader. He wasn't worried for himself; he couldn't think of many scenarios in which he survived the encounter, and he was resigned to that fact. But he couldn't bear the idea of Aurora dying with him…or worse.

So he waited now, patient as a krayt dragon. He knew that she'd be weighing all of the possibilities, looking for flaws. He'd deliberately offered the no holds barred as incentive, knowing that she wouldn't hesitate to fight underhanded if she needed to, and that she would never expect him to do the same, not in a million years. But in this case, he absolutely intended to. Aurora was better than he was with a lightsaber, but in this case he had far more motivation to win than she did.

After several moments, Luke broke the tense silence, deliberately trying to provoke her. "What's the matter, Kenobi? Are you scared you'll lose?"

She raised a brow. "That's a truly pathetic attempt to coerce me."

Luke shrugged. "I'm getting old standing here waiting for you to make some sort of decision. I guess women really can't make up their minds."

She snorted. "That's even more lame."

"Come on, Aurora, make a choice here." He taunted softly. "What have you got to lose?"

_You,_ her brain screamed, but she bit back the reply, her hand dropping to the hilt of her lightsaber, as she came to a decision. If she wasn't willing to fight to protect him here, what chance would she have against the Emperor and Vader?

She unclipped the hilt of her lightsaber, fingers stroking the smooth finish. "All right, fine. One fight, no holds –" But before she could finish the sentence, Luke was already moving, his saber swinging down towards her hand, intending to knock the deactivated hilt out of her hand and end the fight before it even started.

Only excellent reflexes allowed Aurora to avoid the blow by throwing her weight completely backwards. She came up against the door, but it was enough so that Luke's lightsaber missed her hand, preventing him from disarming her.

However, she was off balance, knocked back on her heels and Luke was too close for her to engage her blade.

Well, he had said no holds barred. She dropped her lightsaber and grabbed his forearm with both hands, using his own forward momentum to shove his arm past and to her side. At the same time, she tangled her foot between his legs and pushed. Luke stumbled sideways and she was able to slip around him, their positions now reversed.

Aurora held out her hand and her lightsaber jumped back into her grip.

Luke turned slowly to face her, the glow from both blades illuminating something in his face that for a moment looked a lot like fear, but then he smiled easily.

"Round one to you, I think."

He shoved off the door just as he'd finished speaking, hoping to catch her by surprise again, but Aurora was ready and their blades clashed, screeching against each other. Their eyes met over the lightsabers, locking in a challenge just as much as the weapons, and the fight was on.

It was long and it was brutal. Both were bruised and sweaty and achy, and neither could seem to get the upper hand.

Luke was more aggressive than Aurora had ever seen him, fighting with a desperate tenacity that almost broke her heart to see. He was stronger than she was and he didn't hesitate to try and overpower her blade, using the full strength of his arms and back, nor did he hesitate to knock her on her ass more than once. But she was faster and just a shade more agile, slipping around and under his blows. She wasn't afraid of getting just as physical and Luke spent his fair share of time on the cold floor of the storage room.

What finally brought an end to the battle was more ill luck than skill. Luke's boot slipped in a patch of dust, throwing him off balance just as he brought his saber down in a fast, hard blow. Aurora didn't hesitate to take advantage of the situation, slamming into his side and shoving him down.

He hit the floor hard, winded, and only had time to flip to his back before she was on him, hitting him with her full weight.

His breath left him in a wheeze and she slammed his unresisting wrists to the floor, holding them there while she sat on his thighs, panting.

Luke considered his options while he tried to draw air into his straining lungs. He'd lost his lightsaber when she'd pinned his hands, but she dropped her own to do it, so they were both unarmed.

However, she had him pinned pretty effectively, despite his greater strength and weight. He might be able to use the strength of his legs to push off against the floor, but she might be able to counter it with her full body weight. If he couldn't figure something out fast, then this fight was over and he'd have lost, which meant she'd be facing Vader and the Emperor. His frantic brain presented him with one scenario that might work, but he was incredibly reluctant to use it. It was low and immoral, especially in their case, and dangerous, very dangerous.

_No holds barred_ his conscience reminded him, and presented him with a very vivid image of what could happen if she came with him.

Aurora's voice broke the sudden silence of the room. "Looks like you-"

Desperate, Luke reared up and cut off her words with his mouth.

He felt Aurora's instant shock, both through the Force and in the way she suddenly went rigid against him. He felt her start to pull away and so he poured everything he could into the kiss, parting his lips against hers, teasing them with the tip of his tongue, all the while thinking: _Don't hate me, don't hate me._

Almost involuntarily he felt her start to respond, her lips parting, her body softening against his.

It was gloriously familiar and yet new at the same time, and liquid heat was streaking through his veins, muddling his thoughts.

When her grip on his wrists loosened, he tugged his hands free, intending to flip her and pin her, thus winning their bet. But somewhere in the last few minutes he'd unchecked his desire a little too much and instead he found himself cupping her face and changing the angle of the kiss, taking it deeper. _Just a few more minutes of this. _It had been so long since he'd been able to just touch her and the feel of her against him was simply addictive.

He wasn't sure which of them moaned, but the sound tore through him like velvet lightning, teasing and tantalizing.

More. He wanted more. Any thought of his original plan had slipped completely from his mind.

He was sitting up now, so that Aurora was basically straddling his lap, her hands clutching desperately at his shoulders and her heat pressing into his groin. She had to feel how aroused he was, but it didn't seem to be bothering her.

He pulled away for a moment, staring up into her flushed face, her eyes darkened with arousal, her lips swollen from his.

"Luke –"

"No," he growled, "No talking." He didn't want to hear her, because if they stopped, if he had a chance to think, then he'd stop this madness, and he suddenly didn't want to. He wanted this too much, _needed_ this too much, needed her.

He captured her mouth again, his tongue tangling with hers even as his hands went to the fastenings of her shirt, fingers deftly ghosting over the catches until they were open and he could fill his hands with soft flesh.

That time it was definitely Aurora who moaned, her hands fisting convulsively into his shirt.

Luke pulled away just long enough to yank his shirt over his head and then returned, this time his lips tracing the path his fingers had just taken, biting back a groan of his own when Aurora's hands slid over the muscles of his back, gliding down and around to his abdomen, lighting fires wherever they touched.

In the back of his mind he knew he shouldn't be doing this; that it was a mistake he'd already made once and sworn not to make again. That he'd had a plan and making love to Aurora had definitely not been part of it. But her touch was like a drug. One taste and he was lost, willingly lost. And it felt so good – _Force_ _so good_, he thought, shuddering under her as she did something to his ear with her tongue at the same time she trailed her nails down his sides.

_And after all_, a small voice whispered in his mind, _this is more than likely the last time you'll ever get to touch her like this._

_Then I'd better make the most of it…_


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the _Star Wars _franchise and am not making any profit from this.

A/N: This one's a little short, but it seemed appropriate to end it here before we jump into the action on Endor….besides, I gave you guys a nice 6 page treat last time.

Luke was lying flat on his back on the cold floor of the storage room, breathing heavily and trying to bring himself to regret this.

Next to him, Aurora mirrored his position, staring up at the grey tiles of the ceiling.

Their fingers were only millimeters apart, but they were carefully not touching, which was rather ridiculous considering the cirsumstances.

Aurora let out a sigh. "What is wrong with us?"

Luke's eyes flicked towards her.

"Didn't we just say we weren't going to do this anymore? And yet here we are." One hand gestured, taking in their surroundings and their current state.

Luke squirmed. The sweat was cooling on his skin and the deck plates felt hard and gritty. "This was my fault. I started it."

"I didn't exactly fight you off."

"You did try." He said fairly.

She snorted. "For what? About two seconds? Wow, my powers of resistance are amazing."

In all honesty Luke couldn't contradict that.

A few more minutes passed.

"We have absolutely no self control." Aurora sat up, pushing back a strand of sweat dampened hair.

As Luke was currently admiring the way her loose hair contrasted with the creamy skin of her back, he couldn't really disagree.

"Maybe this is why Jedi aren't supposed to form attachments. They'd spend all their time in bed. Or on the floor." She added, looking around. "I guess Master Yoda might have been right."

"Ugh." Luke sat up, suddenly feeling uncomfortably vulnerable and reached for his pants. "Can you not mention Yoda when we're naked?"

She snorted out a laugh, but reached for her own clothes.

"To be fair, it was supposed to be a calculated distraction, so that I could win the fight." Luke admitted, not looking at her, as he fastened his pants.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her turn her head to look at him. "So what happened?"

He sighed, calling his shirt to him with the Force. "I have absolutely no self control."

Aurora laughed again.

"So," She said casually, after she pulled on her pants and tank top. "Who won?"

Luke glanced up at her from where he was fastening his shirt, taking in her flushed face and tousled hair, her eyes still dark and sated looking.

"Oh, I definitely won." He said, his own eyes gleaming and a lecherous smile appearing on his face as he let his gaze track down.

The color on her cheeks deepened, but she just rolled her eyes. "I meant the bet."

Suddenly sober, Luke turned away to grab his boots, all thoughts of desire and playfulness gone in an instant. "I don't know. I guess it was a draw."

Aurora nodded, suddenly extremely interested in pulling her jacket on.

Abruptly desperately terrified for her, he tried one last time. "Aurora, please –"

"Don't, Luke. Just, don't." Her voice was quiet, but firm. "I'm going with you."

It was a bitter struggle, but he bit down on the words that wanted to spew out. "Fine." He managed finally, his voice flat. He would concede this battle, but it didn't mean the fight was over, just delayed a little.

He finished buckling on his belt and clipped his lightsaber to it, then glanced at Aurora to see if she was ready. She too had retrieved her weapon and reattached it and was in the process of running a hand over her jacket to smooth it. While it helped a little, she still looked a little bedraggled and he had a pretty good idea that he didn't look much better. They hadn't exactly been worrying about later when they were busy ripping each other's clothes off.

Luke reached for the door control, really hoping that they didn't run into anyone they knew.

He had no sooner finished the thought then he opened the door to find four familiar faces waiting in the corridor outside.

Identical grins split the faces of the four men the minute they spotted Luke and Aurora.

"Well," Wes said, his eyes roving over both of them, not missing the wrinkled clothes, tousled hair and indefinable yet still instantly recognizable look of someone who had just had really good sex. "Well, well, well."

Luke rolled his eyes, resisting the urge to facepalm. This was absolutely the last thing he needed to deal with right now.

Behind him he heard Aurora whisper an extremely crude curse word in Bocce.

He seconded the sentiment with all his heart.

"Did you all need something?" He asked now, hoping his voice sounded steady and unconcerned.

"No, I don't think so." Wedge replied, smiling sweetly as he glanced around at his cohorts. "Did we need anything?"

Tycho shook his blond head. "Nope. We saw you duck into your office and then leave, so we were going to ask _you_ if you needed anything, but…."

"Apparently you got it." Wes snickered.

Luke desperately hoped that he wasn't blushing. He didn't dare look behind him to see what Aurora's face looked like.

"A little _lightsaber_ practice maybe?" Wedge asked, his eyes gleaming wickedly.

"Yes," Tycho chimed in. "I imagine it's been a while since you've gotten to use your _lightsaber_, right, Luke?"

He simply shook his head, refusing to be drawn into the innuendo.

"I don't know," Wes said, shaking his head in mock concern. "Must have been a pretty unsual lightsaber practice, cause I've never seen Aurora take her hair down any other time."

"True," Wedge said, reaching past Luke to tug on a loose strand of tangled red hair that lay over Aurora's shoulder. "Cause I would think that it would just get in the way like that."

She didn't blink, but shoved her loose hair back. "I lost the band and it came loose."

Luke carefully kept his eyes away from her face, trying desperately not to remember pulling the band off so that he could free all that glorious hair from its customary braid and bury his hands in it.

"Must have been a tough fight." Hobbie chimed in, purposely eyeing Luke's wrinkled shirt.

"It was." Aurora said, before she shouldered past Luke. "I'd love to continue this stimulating conversation, gentlemen, but if you don't mind, I'm sweaty and a little sore, and I desperately need a shower. Luke, thanks for the match."

Their eyes met for a moment, but really, what was there that they could say in front of an audience? He watched her walk away down the corridor before turning back to find four sets of eyes staring at him speculatively.

"Not a word," Luke warned, pushing past them and turning in the opposite direction.

"Sweaty and sore, huh?" Wes leered. "Way to go, Commander!"

Luke refused to turn around.

"Who won? Cause it looks like you got a little manhandled there, boss." Wedge called after him,

Luke merely made an obscene gesture over his shoulder and kept walking, ignoring the hoots and catcalls coming from behind him.


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Star Wars, other than Aurora. It all belongs to the bearded genius in flannel.

The docking bay was a hive of activity. Ships were being prepped all around, last minute checks being completed and numerous problems were being discovered and either dealt with or ignored, depending on their severity. The shield doors were open, atmosphere being held in by the magcon field, so the temperature had dropped considerably. Not that anyone had a chance to mind. Everyone was too busy, rushing around trying to get everything completed. Groups of colorfully suited pilots were scattered here and there, some already in their ships, others mingled with the more somber grey-suited techs. Sitting anomalously amongst all the Rebel ships was a small Imperial shuttle, its wings folded up to form a triangle. The ramp was down and the camouflaged clad strike team was moving in and out, loading weapons and supplies into the hold of the ship. Luke stood at the base of the ramp, a datapad in one hand on which he was checking the inventory list against the items being loaded.

He didn't need to see her to know when Aurora entered the bay. His stomach flipped and his heart started racing faster as soon as he felt her unique presence in the Force approaching. It was the first time that they had seen each other since their encounter in the storage room and he was determined to handle it better this time than last.

He looked up as she drew near and tried out a smile. He really hoped that it didn't look nervous or strained….or weird. Was he smiling too much?

"Morning."

She gave him a careful look. "Morning."

His mind raced as he tried to think of what to say next.

Aurora took it out of his hands. "Is that the inventory list?" She asked, nodding at the datapad he held..

"Uh, yeah, it is." He gestured to the shuttle. "Most of it's already been loaded."

"Good." She replied, rubbing one hand nervously down her pants. "That's good."

An awkward silence filled the space between them while Aurora kept her eyes focused on her boots and Luke looked around the bay, trying to find something to talk about to fill the silence.

He suddenly had a very clear image of what they must look like from a distance and couldn't stop the laugh that escaped his lips.

Aurora looked up in surprise.

"We look like idiots." He said, gesturing between them.

Aurora smiled slightly. "Yes, we do."

He sighed, rubbing at the back of his neck. "Look, Aurora, I don't know how to say this without sounding stupid or awkward or…whatever, so I'm just going to say it. I don't want what happened last time to happen again. I'm not going to ignore it or pretend it didn't happen, because it did and… it was amazing…again."

Her brows rose, but he continued. "I'm not saying that we should repeat it, because, well, we've had this discussion before, but…" He paused as if searching for the right words, then gave up. "I don't regret it." He finally said softly.

Those amazing eyes studied him for a moment, seeming to reach inside him to discover every last one of his secrets and for a moment Luke wanted nothing more than to throw himself wide open and let her in. But after a few seconds, she smiled slightly and simply said, "Good."

"Good?" Luke repeated, dumbfounded. He hadn't expected any grand declaration of love in response, but he'd at least thought she'd say something about what she was feeling. Give him some idea of what was going on in her head. Instead he got 'good.'

"That's it? That's your response?"

"Yep." She said, turning to walk up the ramp.

"I'm baring my soul here and that's all you have to say?" he called.

Her back to him, Luke didn't see the satisfied smile that crossed Aurora's face as she entered the ship without a word.

_RoJ_

Han and Leia approached the shuttle, Chewie towering behind them and the droids trailing along after. They looked like they were arguing, but what was new about that.

Seeing Luke, Leia broke off whatever she had been saying and smiled at him.

"Everything all set?"

"Almost." He checked his list. "Just a few more things and we should be ready to go."

Chewie growled a question and Luke scrolled up a few pages on the datapad. "It says here the ship's log shows the systems were maintained regularly , but…"

Chewie's growl this time was decidedly skeptical, obviously agreeing with Luke's assessment of Imperial standards. He patted the young commander on the shoulder with one large hair paw and headed up the ramp, obviously intending to run a few checks of his own.

Artoo twittered a derisive reply of his own and followed the Wookiee.

"Artoo, Chewbacca did not ask for your assistance and regardless, I don't know what you think you know about Imperial shuttles anyway." Threepio scolded following the astromech into the shuttle.

Leia sighed. "I supposed I'd better go supervise."

Luke smiled. "Aurora's in there somewhere. She can do it."

A sudden loud crashing noise followed by several loud curses came from the open hold. This was immediately followed by voices raised in argument.

Leia winced. "Sounds like she might be a little busy. I'll do it."

Luke just shook his head and turned back to his datapad as she too disappeared into the ship.

It was only after she'd been gone a few minutes that he realized Han, who was still standing next to him, had been suspiciously quiet this whole time.

He glanced over at the smuggler, only to see him staring across the bay.

Luke followed his gaze to where the _Millenium Falcon_ sat waiting a few berths over, her sublight engines already warming up.

Understanding, Luke didn't say a word.

It was actually less than a half hour later that everything was stowed away and the shuttle was prepared to lift off.

Luke was sitting behind the pilot's chair, checking the readings on an overhead screen when Han finally made his way into the cockpit.

"You got her warmed?" He asked shortly.

"Yeah, she's coming up." Luke replied.

Aurora glanced up from the nav 'puter where she sat behind Luke. Sensing the Corellian's bleak mood, she didn't say a word, just exchanged a concerned glance with Luke.

From where he sat in the co-pilot's seat, Chewie growled a complaint.

"No, I don't think the Empire had Wookiees in mind when they designed her, Chewie."

The Wookiee snarled his opinion of that.

Leia came in from the hold and took her seat behind him.

Chewie barked another derisive comment about Imperial design as he hit several switches on the console in front of him, starting the sublight engines.

Aurora snorted out a laugh. "Maybe Sorosuub should put that in their advertisements."

"I'm not sure that's exactly a selling point." Luke replied, switching screens to check the alignment of the shields.

Han was ignoring the byplay behind him, instead staring morosely out the forward viewport to where the _Falcon _was visible directly in front of them.

Leia leaned forward and nudged him gently. "Hey, you awake?"

Han sighed. "Yeah, I just got a funny feeling. Like I'm not going to see her again."

Chewie, hearing this, paused to also stare longingly at the ship.

Leia gave them a few seconds, and then put her hand on Han's shoulder. "Come on, General, let's move."

Han shook himself and seemed to snap out of it. "Right. Chewie, let's see what this piece of junk can do. Ready, everybody?"

"All set." Luke replied.

From where he was stationed next to Aurora, Threepio seemed to almost sigh. "Here we go again."

"All right," Han stated, gripping the throttle and easing it forward. "Hang on."

The shuttle lifted smoothly from the deck and headed out the through the magcon field. Once free of the docking bay, the tri-wings lowered into flight position and the ship zoomed away from _Home One, _heading for its rendezvous with the new Death Star.

_RoJ_

Remembering their nearly solitary approach to the first Death Star years ago, Aurora was surprised at the amount of traffic moving around this one. There were transports, shuttles, TIEs and several Star Destroyers scattered about. Even as they approached, the huge triangle shape of a Super Star Destroyer moved into view.

There was a tense silence in the cockpit as they all took in the view of the half-completed space station.

"It's going to be even bigger than the first." Leia breathed.

"Somebody's compensating for something." Aurora quipped.

Chewie urrfed a laugh, but no one else reacted.

"If they don't go for this, we're going to have to get out of here pretty quick, Chewie." Han stated.

The Wookiee growled in agreement.

The com clicked and a controlled voice came through. "We have you on our screen now. Please identify."

Han took a deep breath to steady his voice before he replied. "Shuttle Tyderium requesting deactivation of the deflector shield."

"Shuttle Tyderium, transmit the clearance code for shield passage."

"Transmission commencing." Han replied, keying in the code.

The sound of the high speed transmission filled the cockpit.

"Now we find out if that code is worth the price we paid." Leia said grimly.

"It'll work." Han told her. "It'll work."

Chewie whined nervously.

Luke didn't react. It was his turn to stare wordlessly out the cockpit, his gaze fastened on the ever closer giant Star Destroyer.

"Vader's on that ship." He said flatly.

Aurora glanced at him sharply and then at the ship, her brows drawing together.

"Now don't get jittery, Luke. There are a lot of command ships." Han replied trying to sound cheerfully upbeat. "Keep your distance though, Chewie, but don't look like you're trying to keep your distance."

Chewie barked in disbelief.

"I don't know. Fly casual." The Corellian answered cavalierly.

Chewie snorted his opinion of this advice.

Luke was still watching the Star Destroyer. "I'm endangering the mission. I shouldn't have come."

Aurora shifted in her seat, tapping her fingers nervously on the hilt of her lightsaber. She too could feel the oppressive weight of the Dark Side hovering near them and was afraid that Luke was right.

Han, however, in typical Solo fashion, dismissed the idea. "It's your imagination, kid. Come on. Let's keep a little optimism here."

The com suddenly clicked again, causing them all to jump a little. "Shuttle Tyderium, what is your cargo and destination?"

Han and Chewie exchanged concerned glances. "Parts and technical crew for the forest moon."

There was another long pause.

"This is taking too long." Aurora said quietly. "It shouldn't take this long for clearance."

Han had to agree. "They're not going for it, Chewie." He was just reaching for the throttle, preparing to whip them around and blast out of there, when the com clicked for the third time.

"Shuttle Tyderium, deactivation of the shield will commence immediately. Follow your present course."

An audible sigh of relief filled the cabin as everyone relaxed in their seats. Everyone except for Luke and Aurora, because Luke was right. Vader's dark presence on that Destroyer was unmistakable, and if they could feel him, then he must certainly be able to sense them, especially Luke. So the only reason to allow them through the shield was because they were being set up for a trap.

Not that it really mattered in the end, because whether Vader realized their presence now or later, didn't really make a difference.

Han was suddenly all confident cockiness again. "Okay! I told you it was going to work. No problem."

Leia suddenly rubbed her arms as a chill swept over her at Han's words. Why did she suddenly have the feeling that there certainly was going to be a problem?


End file.

Star Wars, Adventure, Romance